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Vandoren Artist Profile: Michael Holmes
Date Posted: January 18, 2018
When did you decide you wanted to be a musician?
I was in fourth grade and my sister was joining band around this same time. We were doing recorder lessons when we were in elementary school and I thought it was so fun to play really fast scales on the recorder. My sister really wanted to play the saxophone, but my parents said they couldn’t afford it and she had to play the trumpet.
I, being me, decided that I would take it upon myself to find a saxophone, so I looked in newspapers from around the Midwest to see if I could find a used saxophone that was less expensive than the trumpet that my family purchased for my sister. Of course, I was able to find something and shortly there after a shiny saxophone arrived to my home in Ohio. I had never played a saxophone, but I figured out how to put it together, put a reed on (probably without wetting it) and began to play… I never looked back.
Who have been some of the most influential people in your life?
There are so many from my formative years as a young musician: My High School Choir teacher (David Inbody) who taught me how to use my ears, my High School Band teacher (Rick Eakin) who taught me how to be a leader, my first private lesson teacher (Mr. Richard Reamsnyder) who expertly taught me the fundamentals.
And then there are my major mentors/teachers that taught me so much as a young saxophonist: Dr. John Sampen, from Bowling Green State University. John was my teacher starting in 8th grade, and I was fortunate enough to study with him all the way through my undergraduate degree… 8 years, wow that is a lot of time with such an incredible pedagogue.
Professor Debra Richtmeyer from the University of Illinois. Debra was my teacher for my masters and doctorate, and she taught me how to use my ears and air in a completely new way – what a brilliant musician and teacher. In later years, I was fortunate enough to be a colleague of Debra’s at the University of Illinois where I was able to teach along side her.
As for people that I’ve listened to, or learned from over the years, I’m really influenced by a lot of the greats, not only classically with saxophonists like Jean-Marie Londeix, Eugene Rousseau, Claude Delangle Jean-Yves Fourmeau, Fred Hemke, Donald Sinta, Marcel Mule, and many of the other greats. But I’m also influenced by the jazz greats too: Cannonball Adderly, Stan Getz, John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Sonny Stitt, any many other. Not to mention countless orchestral recordings, string quartet recordings, and a myriad that helped train my ears. Those are my big influences.
What are some of the challenges you’ve faced as a musician and how have you overcome them?
Being a musician is not a one-step process. It’s not a one-size fits all. Wrapping my mind around the fact that you may be a teacher, a performer, as well as many other things. I have been fortunate to work on the business side of the music industry, and on the administrative side.
Once I got my head wrapped around that it’s not a one-size fits all and there’s an entire gamut of things you can do as a musician, I think that’s when the challenge became less of a struggle and more of an excitement for me. Something that was really exciting to go into – that I really look forward to thriving in the different areas of the music industry.
"...there’s an entire gamut of things you can do as a musician." - Michael Holmes
Do you have any memorable performances?
First would be the BBC Proms with the St. Louis Symphony which was in front of almost 8,000 people. Oh, and I did a concert called the ‘Swire Symphony Under the Stars’ with the Hong Kong Symphony in front of almost 25,000 on the harbor in Hong Kong. I was doing Bolero with them. It was a performance I will never forget.
But, perhaps the most life altering, have been my performances with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO). The first time I performed with the CSO I did Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet under the director of Maestro Riccardo Muti. I was recently part of a three-week European tour with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Maestro Riccardo Muti – sold out performances were held in the Philharmonie de Paris in Paris, France; the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Germany; the Musik Haas in Aalborg, Denmark; the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Italy; the Musikverein in Vienna, Austria; and finally, the Festspeilhaus in Baden-Baden, Germany. Only a few months prior to this tour my entire personal life had been turned upside down, and then there I was sitting on some of the world’s greatest stages with the world’s greatest orchestra. This tour showed me that I was a confident musician and that for the first time in many years, that I had regained my own life and my own happiness – music is powerful! The cherry-on-top was that my partner, Brad, flew to Milan, Italy and asked me to marry him. This tour and these performances will always hold a special place in my heart.
What has been the most fulfilling aspect of your life as a musician?
I love performing. I love teaching. I get the same thrill as a teacher when my students are successful, as I do when I get to stand on stage doing a great performance. I love travelling and I love getting to see the world through the eyes as a musician. Getting to meet musicians from all around the world and being able to speak the same language as them - when we sit on the stage together we all share that commonality. I adore giving back to students and being able to give them something of myself that I was given at a young age. I think all of those things. The life of a musician is so crazy and wonderful at the same time. Every day is different. I think maybe that’s it. Every day is different in the way that’s so exciting. I’ve been fortunate enough to travel the entire world because of music – I love that!
About the Author
Dr. J. Michael Weiss-Holmes is a talented solo and chamber musician who “… is one of the rising young saxophone stars in the United States” (Saxophone Journal) and he “ranks among the very finest of today’s young intellectually and musically gifted saxophonists” (Dr. Frederick Hemke). Professor Weiss-Holmes’ active playing career has seen him performing at some of the most prestigious venues in the United States, China, Australia, Taiwan, and Europe. Dr. Weiss-Holmes was recently part of a three-week European tour with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Maestro Riccardo Muti – sold out performances were held in the Philharmonie de Paris in Paris, France; the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Germany; the Musik Haas in Aalborg, Denmark; the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Italy; the Musikverein in Vienna, Austria; and finally the Festspeilhaus in Baden-Baden, Germany. Dr. Weiss-Holmes has received international acclaim as an orchestral saxophonist, and has performed as principal saxophonist with numerous orchestras including recent performances with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, the Peninsula Music Festival Orchestra, the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, the Grant Park Orchestra, Sinfonia da Camera, the Toledo Repertoire Theatre, and the Champaign-Urbana Symphony. Weiss-Holmes has worked with such renown conductors as Riccardo Muti, Jaap van Zweden, Leonard Slatkin, David Robertson, Michael Tilson Thomas, Stéphane Denève, and Marin Alsop… just to name a few. He has also shared the stage with artists such as Ben Folds, The Temptations, Manhattan Transfer, and Idina Menzel.
Dr. Weiss-Holmes is currently Interim Assistant Dean for Enrollment & Student Services, Artist-Teacher of Saxophone and Head of Woodwinds at Roosevelt University Chicago College of Performing Arts and he was previously on faculty at the University of Illinois, the College of Wooster, and the University of Notre Dame. Dr. Weiss-Holmes is the Marketing Director for the North American Saxophone Alliance and served as Director of Marketing for Saxophones at Conn-Selmer, Inc. and as Artistic Advisor and Product Specialist with Vandoren. Professor Weiss-Holmes’ diverse background as a performer, educator and former member of the music industry have provided him with unique insight in preparing the next generation of music students for successful careers in their chosen field. As such, he has been invited to present clinics, masterclasses, and performances at some of the most prestigious saxophone programs both nationally and internationally. Weiss-Holmes is an active soloist of contemporary music and has commissioned and premiered numerous works for the saxophone. His performances have received great accolades and can be heard on the CSO Resound, Mark, NAXOS, Aucourant, SEAMUS and Klavier Record labels; including a recent recording of Percy Grainger’s Music for Saxophone which was released on the NAXOS Record label. Dr. Weiss-Holmes is the saxophonist on the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) Resound album’s release of a recording featuring the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Riccardo Muti, playing an extended suite drawn from Sergei Prokofiev’s Romeo and Julietballet score. The Chicago Tribune describes this recording as “played here with a brilliance and panache that brought the dramatic narrative alive.”
Weiss-Holmes holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in Saxophone Performance, a Bachelors degree in Music Education from Bowling Green State University where he was a student of Distinguished Research/Artist Professor John Sampen, and a Masters degree in Saxophone Performance and Literature from the University of Illinois where he was the graduate saxophone teaching assistant for Professor Debra Richtmeyer. He has had additional studies with saxophonists Jean-Marie Londeix, Claude Delangle, Griffin Campbell, Daniel Kientzy, and Eugene Rousseau. Dr. Weiss-Holmes is a member of the North American Saxophone Alliance and has performed in many of the national and regional conferences, as-well-as at the World Saxophone Congress. Dr. Weiss-Holmes was the co-host of the 2014 North American Saxophone Alliance Biennial Conference which was be held at the University of Illinois. He was recently a featured artist in the “We Are Vandoren” international ad campaign, appeared on the cover of the Sept/Oct 2012 Saxophone Journal, and is a Selmer Artist/Clinician as well as Vandoren Performing Artist. For more information, visit michaelweissholmes.com