Pianist, composer, singer and songwriter Robin Holcomb has performed extensively in North America,
Europe, Australia and Asia as a solo artist and the leader of various ensembles. Recent performances
include appearances at Queen Elizabeth Hall (London), Carnegie Hall, The Verona Jazz Festival, The San
Francisco Jazz Festival, Hong Kong Arts Festival, Festival of Perth, DuMaurier Jazz Festivals and Arts
at St. Ann’s.
A Nonesuch recording artist, her most recent release is The Big Time (2002), a collection of original
songs and arrangements of traditional American songs. Little Three (1996) is a solo recording of a
piano music and songs. Two previous CDs, Rockabye and Robin Holcomb are critically acclaimed
collections of original songs. Earlier recordings of instrumental music include Larks, They Crazy and
Todos Santos, both on the German Sound Aspects label. Recent recording projects include collaborations
with Bill Frisell on his Nashville recording, and contributions to Burt Bacharach and Serge Gainsbourg
tribute compilations for the Tzadik label.
Ms. Holcomb is a founder and co-director of The New York Composers Orchestra, an ensemble for which
she is also a conductor, pianist and principal composer. First Program in Standard Time and The New
York Composers Orchestra, both on New World Records, document this work.
In addition to creating the score for the Joe Goode Performance Group’s Bessie Award-winning Deeply
There, Ms. Holcomb has also been commissioned by The Bebe Miller Dance Company for the score for Tiny
Sisters In The Enormous Land. Her music was featured in The White Oak Dance Company’s Oz,
choreographed by Paul Taylor. Ms. Holcomb created the score for the PBS documentary “A Woman’s Health”,
and contributed music to the Huchoosedeh, Voices of the Heart documentary. She has composed music
for various theatrical and film productions, including Nikki Appino’s Project X: Before the Comet
Comes (Seattle/2003) and her own Angels at the Four Corners, premiered at the New Music America
Festival at Dance Theatre Workshop in New York City.
Her work has been called "remarkable" (CMJ), "stunning" (Option), "entrancing" (Billboard) and
"sensitive, descriptive, adventuresome and full of soul" (Washington Post.) The New York Times had
this to say about her difficult-to-define musical style: "Robin Holcomb...has created a new American
regionalism, spun from many threads - country, rock, minimalism, Civil War songs, Baptist hymns,
Appalachian folk tunes, even the polytonal music of Charles Ives. The music that results is as
elegantly simple as a Shaker Quilt, and no less beautiful."