Full Biography
Harrison Hollingsworth is the principal bassoonist of the New York City Ballet at Lincoln Center. He also holds the Eileen McManimen principal bassoon chair for Symphony in C (formerly The Haddonfield Symphony), where has served additionally as program annotator and first violinist. He has been principal bassoonist of the Long Island Philharmonic and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s. Originally from Kingwood, Texas, Harrison Hollingsworth is a winner of Astral Artists’ 2009 National Auditions.
Now based in New York, Mr. Hollingsworth pursues many musical activities. He is an original member of the Mimesis Ensemble (with whom he made his Kennedy Center conducting debut), and also works as a freelance conductor in New York City, where he conducts recording sessions at Avatar Studios and serves as a clinician for various orchestras (most recently, for the Westchester Area All-State Orchestra). Also an avid fiddler, he was an original member of the Philadelphia bluegrass band Wissahickon Chicken Shack, and now plays with Union Street Preservation Society in Brooklyn.
An advocate for new music both on the podium and in the recital hall, Mr. Hollingsworth has premièred multiple new works for bassoon, including Teddy Abrams’ Bassoon Sonata, of which he is the dedicatee. Also an avid chamber musician, he was invited to perform at David Kim’s Kingston Music Festival in 2008, and has performed widely as bassoonist/violinist of the unorthodox improvising ensemble 6th Floor Trio, which opened for Marvin Hamlisch in 2009.
As a soloist, Mr. Hollingsworth gave his professional recital debut on Astral’s series in October 2009. He has played concertos with The Philadelphia Orchestra, Symphony in C, the Clear Lake Symphony, and many others. He has also been featured in recital on WHYY’s television series “On Stage at Curtis,” NPR’s syndicated radio show “From the Top,” and WHYY 91 FM Radio’s “Showcase,” which broadcast the radio première of his brass choir composition Fanfare and Contrapunctus.
Mr. Hollingsworth is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, where he held the Sheldon Bonovitz Fellowship and studied with both Bernard Garfield and Daniel Matsukawa, the retired and current principal bassoonists of The Philadelphia Orchestra. He is also a graduate of the Mannes College for Music, where he received a Master’s degree in Orchestral Conducting under David Hayes. Under a grant from the Williamson Foundation for Music, he also studied orchestral conducting with Michael Jinbo at the Pierre Monteux School.
Updated: JULY 2010
