MICHAEL HOLMES

CORNETTO

Guest artist, October 26-27, 2019

Michael Holmes earned the B.Mus. in Music Theory/Composition from James Madison University, the M.Mus. in Orchestral Conducting from Virginia Commonwealth University, and completed his doctoral coursework in musicology at the University of Maryland. A highly versatile brass player, he played French horn with the Richmond Symphony, Virginia Symphony, and West Virginia Symphony, classical horn with numerous period orchestras and opera companies, and sackbutt and cornetto with Renaissance and baroque ensembles throughout the United States including Piffaro, Boston Shawm and Sackbut Ensemble, Artek, Tempesta di Mare, Teatro Nuovo, Stylus Luxurians, the Washington Bach Consort, and Ensemble Croesus. Michael was music director of the Orchestra of the 17th Century and is co-founder and artistic director of the Washington Cornett and Sackbutt Ensemble since 2000. Michael also has a specialty in Nordic music and was a Fulbright Scholar to Finland, where he researched the life and music of Jean Sibelius. He has taught at the University of Maryland, Towson University, and American University, and has been music director of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Silver Spring since 2004.