Born In Halifax, UK
Resides In Tallahassee, FL

Jonathan Holden Principal - Clarinet

Jonathan Holden is Associate Professor of Clarinet at Florida State University and Principal Clarinetist of the Mobile Symphony Orchestra. Born in Great Britain, he completed his training in the United States, and now lives with his family in Tallahassee, Florida. This year marks his twentieth and final season as Principal Clarinet of the West Michigan Symphony.

As an artist-pedagogue, Holden performs frequently in many genres and settings, and mentors young performing artists and music educators. He made his concerto debut in England at age seventeen and has since played and taught on four continents. Recent trips include a tour of Israel, where he performed Ellen Taaffe Zwilich’s Clarinet Concerto, and a solo appearance at the Golden Bell Festival in Rizhao, China. He has given clinics, master classes, and performances at over fifty colleges and universities in the US and overseas, including Vanderbilt and Northwestern universities, and the national conservatories of Paris and Rio De Janeiro. Holden is an ardent chamber musician and supporter of new music, appearing at conferences, festivals, and recital halls throughout the US, often presenting new works. Together with colleagues, he gave the international premiere of Pierre Jalbert’s Triple Set at the conference of the International Clarinet Association.

An experienced orchestral clarinetist, Holden has performed with over twenty professional orchestras throughout the United States, including the Louisiana, Fort Wayne, and Orlando Philharmonic orchestras, the Grand Rapids and Baton Rouge Symphony orchestras, and the Sarasota Orchestra. In 2019, he played Principal Clarinet with the Joffrey Ballet in its premiere run of the opera Anna Karenina at Chicago’s Auditorium Theatre.

Holden appears on several studio recordings. His 2018 solo album, Notes from Home (Centaur Records), celebrates music of the British Isles. A 2020 review of that album in Fanfare Magazine cites his “richness of tone, technical address, and sophisticated musicality,” offering the recording as evidence “we’re living through one of the great ages of wind playing.” Holden’s forthcoming album, American Notebook, will complement the first album, featuring music by American composers.

Holden is a D’Addario Woodwinds Artist and a Selmer Paris Performing Artist.

Sponsored by Susan Cloutier Crain