Called “phenomenal” by the late music critic Alan Rich (SoIveHeard.com) and hailed as one of the “local heroes” of the Los Angeles music scene (LAcitybeat.com), pianist Danny Holt brings his boundless energy and wit to unique interpretations of new music, 20th-century music, and obscure, unusual, and neglected repertoire from past centuries.
Holt performs around the globe in concert halls (Carnegie Hall, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Hollywood Bowl), clubs (Joe’s Pub, The Blue Whale, Copenhagen Jazzhouse) art galleries (MASS MoCA, Hammer Museum), churches, living rooms, and wherever else he can find a piano and someone to listen. Known for his no-holds-barred style, he has been called “the classical music equivalent of an extreme sports athlete” (The Record) and “an artistic maverick who isn’t afraid to tackle tradition” (WWLP-TV).
Danny Holt has held fellowships at the Bang On a Can Summer Music Institute, the Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall, and New England Conservatory’s Summer Institute for Contemporary Performance Practice, and he has worked with such composers as Steve Reich, Louis Andriessen, Christian Wolff, James Tenney, Graham Fitkin, David Lang, Michael Gordon, Augusta Read Thomas, and Michael Finnissy, among others. He also proudly champions the works of emerging composers.
He has received awards and grants from ASCAP, Yamaha, the American Composers Forum, the Yvar Mikhashoff Trust for New Music, and others; and has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group, Blue Man Group, the Bang on a Can All-Stars, the California EAR Unit, and the Calder Quartet. He can be heard on the Innova Recordings label, pfMENTUM, New World Records, Deutsche Grammophon, and L’st records.
Holt’s acclaimed 2009 CD, Fast Jump (Innova Recordings) was produced by Mike Garson (pianist for David Bowie, Nine Inch Nails, No Doubt, Smashing Pumpkins, etc.) Gramophone called the album “a compelling showcase for Holt’s innate virtuosity and gregarious temperament” and WNYC’s John Schaefer selected the CD as one of the best releases of 2009. Recent releases include Piano Music of Mike Garson (2021, Innova Recordings) and an album of rarely-heard sonatas by female composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Trailblazers (2024, Acis Productions.)
Among Holt’s ambitious solo projects is The Piano/Percussion Project. More than 25 composers have created new works for Holt’s unique setup in which he plays piano and an array of percussion instruments simultaneously. When he’s not performing cutting-edge contemporary music, Holt enjoys curating programs of obscure repertoire from the 18th and 19th centuries, bringing rarely-performed works and the unheard stories of lesser-known composers to audiences. He also enjoys performing on historical pianos (sometimes more than 200 years old!) and modern replicas of early pianos.
Holt holds degrees from California Institute of the Arts, Hampshire College, Smith College, and Interlochen Arts Academy. He is also a percussionist, composer, producer, and educator. He recently moved to a small town on the coast of Maine, but maintains strong ties to Southern California, where he runs Desert Hot Springs Classical Concerts, an annual concert series for residents and visitors to the Palm Springs area. In addition to maintaining a busy private studio of piano students in Southern California for over two decades, Holt was the chair of the music program at The Academy of Creative Education at the Oakwood School, and was Scholar-in-Residence at Harvard-Westlake School’s Kutler Center for Interdisciplinary Studies and Independent Research. He also previously taught at CalArts, Smith College, College of the Desert, Norco College, and the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute; and he performs and gives guest lectures at colleges and universities throughout the U.S. and abroad.
www.dannyholt.net
Doors open at 11:30am
