OPERA AUSTRALIA WIND QUINTET

Diane Berger - Flute
Matthew Tighe - Oboe
Richard Rourke - Clarinet
Lee Wadenpfuhl - Horn
Tim Murray - Bassoon

ASSOCIATE ARTISTS

Sumiko Yamamura - Piano
Dean Bassett - Tenor

 PROGRAMME
FABLE OF THE WIND wind quintet

CAGE OF GOLD flute & piano

THE GLEBE GLOWS horn & piano

THREE DREAMS clarinet & piano
1. Tranquility
2. Masquerade
3. Tremor

THREE MOVEMENTS FROM "BORNEO SONGS" tenor & wind quintet
1. Jungle Song
2. Interlude
3. Heat

A note from Richard Rourke:

I first met Alan Holley in 1988 when I played for his opera "Dorothea" which was staged in the Northern Beaches and Gunnedah as part of Australia's bicentennial celebrations. Since then I have played numerous works of his. Alan has been an integral part of my development as a musician. I am in awe of his artistry, his encouragement and support of other musicians, and am I am very proud to call him my friend and colleague.
In recent years Sydney born composer Alan Holley (b.1954) has been a featured composer at numerous music festivals and received composer profile concerts in Croatia, Serbia, Albania and Australia.
The trumpet concerto Doppler's Web (2005) written for soloist Paul Goodchild, A Line of Stars (2007) and A Shaft of Light (2015) for oboe and orchestra with Shefali Pryor as soloist were commissioned and performed in the Concert Hall of the Opera House by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Loaded with Dream (2011) was commissioned by the Sydney Symphony for performance by the Fellows. In 2018 And the Rain received numerous performances by the Australian Chamber Choir in Victoria and Sydney. This choir then commissioned and performed Time Passages in Australia, Denmark, Germany, Belgium and England on their 2019 tours.
Three major chamber works were premiered in Melbourne in 2022. Lyrebird Brass premiered Goodchild Canzonas, a brass quintet in the Melbourne Recital Centre (MRC); Ensemble Three premiered All Demons Run for trumpet, trombone and electric guitar also in the MRC and In Fire Season, a trio composed during the horrendous bushfires in Australia in 2020 was premiered by Johanna Selleck, alto flute, Peter Sheridan, bass flute and Danae Killian, piano.
In 2024 Holley returned to Europe for concerts and lectures in Italy, Croatia, Albania and Kosovo. Under the inspired direction of Tamara Jurkić Sviben and Hrvoje Pintaric and organised by and supported by the Koncertni ured Varaždin, the Australian Embassy in Croatia and Media Club Europe, a portrait concert of eight works by Holley was performed in the university city of Varaždin on May 22, 2024.
In Albania and Kosovo Holley was joined by the Australian performers Joel Brennan (trumpet) and Ken Murray (guitar), both teaching professors at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, in concerts of works from Australia, Albania and Kosovo.
His works are now published by Kookaburra Music and recorded on HAMMERINGS RECORDS.