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SHORT
PROGRAM BIO FOR DAVID HOLSINGER
In 1999, award winning composer and conductor David R. Holsinger joined
the faculty of Lee University, Cleveland, Tennessee. He is the
inaugural conductor of the Lee Wind Ensemble and teaches composition,
orchestration, and conducting. He holds degrees from Central Methodist
University, University of Central Missouri, and the University of
Kansas.
Dr. Holsinger’s compositions have won four national competitions,
including a two time ABA Ostwald Award. His works have also been
finalists in the NBA and Sudler composition competitions. In the
summer of 1998, Holsinger was featured as the HERITAGE VI composer
during the Texas Bandmasters Association convention in San Antonio.
This prestigious series celebrating American wind composers was founded
in 1992 and had previously honored Morton Gould, Ron Nelson, Robert
Jager, W. Francis McBeth, and Roger Nixon. An elected member of
the American Bandmasters Association, Holsinger’s recent honors
include the Distinguished Music Alumni Award from Central Missouri State
University, CIDA’S 1999 Director of the Year Citation, Phi Mu Alpha
Sinfonia’s Orpheus Award, the 2003 Distinguished Alumni Award from
Central Methodist College, and the 2003 Excellence in Scholarship
Citation from Lee University. Surrounding the premiere of the
composer’s EASTER SYMPHONY, Holsinger was honored by Gustavus Adolphus
College with the awarding of an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters for
lifetime achievement in composition and presented the Gustavus Fine Arts
Medallion, the division’s highest award. Holsinger
was one of eleven composers contributing a chapter in the GIA project
entitled COMPOSERS ON COMPOSING FOR BAND. This projected 4 volume
book venture is edited by Mark Camphouse and Volume I, which includes
chapters from such notable composers as David Gillingham, Karel Husa,
and W. Francis McBeth, among others, was released in December, 2002.
A chapter concerning the music of David Holsinger is included in A
COMPOSER’S INSIGHT: THOUGHTS, ANALYSIS AND COMMENTARY ON CONTEMPORARY
MASTERPIECES FOR WIND BAND, VOL III, edited by Timothy Saltzman and
published by Meredith Publications in 2006. In addition, Holsinger
was the subject of a special article in the German music magazine,
“Musik zum Lesen” in celebration of his 60th birthday in December,
2005. He has previously been featured in “Bläsermusik”
magazine, also a German publication. Biographical and commentary
on Holsinger’s works can be found in both “The Heritage Encyclopedia
of Band Music”, Vol. I and III, and in Norman Smith’s “Program
Notes for Band”.
In the past twelve years, Holsinger has served as Visiting Distinguished
Composer in Residence at eleven American colleges or universities,
including the Acuff Chair of Excellence in the Creative Arts at Austin
Peay State University, Clarksville, Tennessee.
In addition to his university duties, Holsinger spends much of his
energies as a guest composer and conductor with All State organizations,
professional bands, and university ensembles throughout the United
States. When not composing or conducting, he models HO scale trains.
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