Mike Holober

Pianist / Composer / Arranger / Conductor / Educator

Described by DownBeat Magazine as “one of the finest modern composer/arrangers of our time,” Mike Holober was awarded the 2022 American Academy of Arts and Letters Andrew Imbrie Award in Music. His 2019 release “Mike Holober and the Gotham Jazz Orchestra: Hiding Out” was nominated for a GRAMMY® (“Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album) and features two of his extended works for jazz orchestra. DownBeat Magazine proclaimed the recording a “long anticipated, epic work,” while others praised the composer’s “daring compositional voice,” “powerful orchestral magic,” and “profound artistic vision,” confirming his place in “the front rank of the most accomplished and inventive composers in jazz.”

In addition to leading his own band, Mike has served has served at the helm of some of the world’s most renowned large ensembles as composer, arranger, and conductor. He was Artistic Director of the critically acclaimed Westchester Jazz Orchestra, and he has worked extensively overseas, writing and conducting for the hr-Big Band (Frankfurt, Germany) and the WDR Big Band (Cologne, Germany). Upcoming engagements include residencies at the Jazzcampus in Basel, Switzerland, and the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts (in cooperation with the hr-Big Band). In November 2024 he will be arranging poem settings by Omer Klein for vocalist Rebecca Martin with the hr-Big Band, and in July 2025 he will be writing a project for the WDR Big Band, featuring saxophonist Chris Potter.

Trained as a classical pianist, Mike has released seven recordings as a leader, and can be heard on over 70 recordings as a sideman. His small group projects include The Mike Holober Quintet, Balancing Act (a jazz octet with voice), and most recently The Marvin Stamm/Mike Holober Quartet and the Marvin Stamm/Mike Holober duo project.

Amongst his honors, Mike is the recipient of a prestigious Chamber Music America New Jazz Works commission for “Don’t Let Go,” a song-cycle written for “Balancing Act,” his jazz octet with voice. He was named the inaugural Stuart Z. Katz Professor in the Humanities and the Arts at The City College of New York in 2017, and he has enjoyed multiple artist residencies at MacDowell (2003; 2004; 2005; 2006; 2009; 2020), The Brush Creek Foundation for the Arts (2019), The Ucross Foundation (2007; 2019), and Yaddo (2005).

Mike is a full Professor at The City College of New York, and teaches composing and arranging at The Manhattan School of Music. He was Associate Director of the BMI Jazz Composer’s Workshop from 2007 - 2015, where he taught with Director Jim McNeely, and he is an active member of the International Society of Jazz Arrangers and Composers (ISJAC), frequently featured as a presenter alongside luminaries such as Anat Cohen, John Clayton, Jim McNeely, and Danilo Perez.