Biography

Violinist Holly Workman is an active soloist, chamber musician, and ensemble player who enjoys collaborating with composers and artists to create new and exciting performances of contemporary works and strives to make classical music more relevant today. Holly has appeared as a guest artist with the MIVOS Quartet, Ensemble Modern, Ensemble United Berlin, and the Slee Sinfonietta, among others. She has also performed alongside the JACK Quartet, Irvine Arditti, members of Ensemble Signal and the Bang on a Can All Stars. Recent solo engagements include the Hershey Symphony, USC Symphony Orchestra, USC Campus Orchestra, the OSSIA Ensemble, and others. Holly is the Assistant Concertmaster of the Aiken Symphony and plays in the first violin sections of the Augusta Symphony, Long Bay Symphony, and South Carolina Philharmonic.

This summer Holly will perform at the Lucerne Festival Academy and her string quartet will be ensemble fellows at the Cortona Sessions for New Music. She has recently completed the GLFCAM Virtual Artist Partnership Program where she helped develop a new work for violin and soprano focused on the poetry of women in Afghanistan. In past years, Holly has performed at festivals such as the June in Buffalo Festival, the CRESC -Biennale für aktuelle Musik 2020, LOUD Weekend 2019, the 180° Laboratory for Innovative Art, Creative Dialogue X, the Rochester Fringe Festival, the New Mexico Chamber Music Festival, Klangspuren Schwaz Tiroler Festival für Neue Musik, and the Bang on a Can Festival. Her playing has also been broadcast on Performance Today, BR-Klassik, and WDR 3, and can also be heard on the Brainfeeder record label. Holly’s recent performances have taken her to the Philharmonie Berlin, the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Tonhalle Düsseldorf, Konzerthaus Berlin, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and others. 

Holly is currently a candidate for the Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Violin Performance with Dr. Ari Streisfeld at the University of South Carolina where she is a fellow in the New Sounds Quartet, violin studio Teaching Assistant, and is concertmaster of the USC Symphony. She was a fellow in the International Ensemble Modern Academy and has a Master of Music in Contemporary Performance from the Frankfurt Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst (Germany). She holds a Master of Music in Violin Performance and Literature and a Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance with High Distinction from the Eastman School of Music. She is also a member of the Pi Kappa Lambda music honor society. More information at hollyworkman.com.


Die Geigerin Holly Workman spielt sowohl traditionelle wie auch zeitgenössische klassische Musik und ist vielfach in den USA und in ganz Europa aufgetreten. Als Gastkünstlerin spielte sie mit dem MIVOS Quartet und Ensemble Modern und hat ebenfalls u.a. mit dem JACK Quartet, Irvine Arditti, Sō Percussion und Alan Pierson konzertiert. Mit vielen Komponisten hat sie eng zusammengearbeitet, z.B. George Lewis, Steve Reich und Charles Wuorinen. Holly ist als Solistin mit dem OSSIA Ensemble aufgetreten, ebenso mit vielen anderen, darunter der Slee Sinfonietta und Ensemble id.

Holly ist Absolventin des Meisterkurses Klangspuren Schwaz Internationale Ensemble Modern Akademie, des Creative Dialogue X der Sibelius-Akademie, wo sie mit Anssi Karttunen und Magnus Lindberg an Musik für Streicher und Elektronik arbeitete, des Bowdoin International Music Festival, dem Bang on a Can Festival und anderen. Ferner ist sie beim June in Buffalo Festival, CRESC – Biennale für aktuelle Musik 2020, und dem New Mexico Chamber Music Festival aufgetreten. Holly wurde von Ensemblemitgliedern von Ensemble Signal, Bang on a Can All Stars, Talea Ensemble und dem Ensemble Modern unterrichtet. Ursprünglich stammt sie aus Lancaster in Pennsylvania; an der Eastman School of Music studierte sie bei Professorin Renée Jolles und erwarb ihren Bachelor- und Master-Abschluss dort mit Auszeichnung. 2019/2020 war Holly Stipendiatin der Internationale Ensemble Modern Akademie.