Composer Jonathan Bailey Holland has been referred to as “a craftsman with an ear for effective orchestration, a fine theatrical sense and real skill when it comes to formal layout” (Indianapolis Star), and his music has been heralded as “a sunburst of gleaming timbres, the full ensemble resounding in lustrous textures” (South Florida Classical Review). His works have been commissioned and performed by many of today’s leading ensembles including the New World Symphony, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Eighth Blackbird, Awadagin Pratt, Roomful of Teeth, Odyssey Opera, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Network for New Music, Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, Emmanuel Music, Plymouth Music Series, and many more.

He served as the first-ever composer-in-residence with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and has held similar positions with the South Bend Symphony and the Detroit Symphony, as well as the Ritz Chamber Players and the Radius Ensemble. He has received awards and honors from the Guggenheim Foundation, The Boston Foundation, Civitella Ranieri Foundation, Massachusetts Cultural Council, Fromm Foundation at Harvard University, American Academy of Arts & Letters, American Music Center, ASCAP, the Presser Foundation, and others. Holland earned a Ph.D. from Harvard University and a Bachelor of Music degree from the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Ned Rorem. He currently holds the Jack G. Buncher Chair as the head of the School of Music at Carnegie Mellon University; previous faculty appointments include Boston Conservatory at Berklee, Berklee College of Music, and Vermont College of Fine Arts.