Harrison Hollingsworth has been heralded “a bold emergent personality” by the Philadelphia Inquirer. In addition to his position with the Bach Society, he holds the David Alan Miller Fellowship and is Assistant Conductor at the New York Youth Symphony. He is also the Downtown Music Director of Redeemer Presbyterian Church, and debuted as guest conductor of the New York City Ballet Orchestra at Lincoln Center last May.

An experienced conductor of young musicians, Harrison was also Principal Conductor for the Westchester Area All-State Orchestra in 2010 and has performed concerts with the Mannes College for Music’s Symphony and Repertory Orchestras. Harrison is also a frequent guest conductor of the Lucy Moses School Chamber Orchestra in Manhattan,. Harrison’s prior professional engagements include conducting recording sessions at Avatar Studios and concerts with the Mimesis Ensemble (with whom he made his Kennedy Center debut conducting Halim El-Dabh’s Clytemnestra in 2009). He enjoys collaborating with living composers, and has performed and recording the music of Nathan Kelly, Mohammed Fairouz, and Halim El-Dabh.

Harrison is a graduate of the Mannes College for Music, where he received his Master’s in Orchestral Conducting, and his primary teacher was David Hayes. He has also studied with Joanne Falletta and Markand Thakar, and under a grant from The Williamson Foundation for Music, Harrison has studied orchestral conducting under Michael Jinbo at the Pierre Monteux School.

Harrison is also an accomplished bassoonist. A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, he is currently on the roster of Astral Artists, based in Philadelphia, which sponsored his professional recital debut in 2009. He holds the principal bassoon chair in the New York City Ballet at Lincoln Center. has also appeared as guest principal bassoonist with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the Long Island Philharmonic, New York Choral Society, and the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, and as section player with the IRIS Orchestra. An advocate for new music both on the podium and in the recital hall, Mr. Hollingsworth has premiered 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 the Kingston Music Festival in 2008 and 2012, and founded Miami’s Fairchild GardenMusic Festival with his trio, Sixth Floor Trio (www.sixthfloortrio.com) in 2012.

Hollingsworth’s endeavors also include teaching, composition, musicology, and fiddling. He has given workshops and judged competitions throughout the New York City Metropolitan area, and also keeps a private studio of select students in Manhattan. His brass septet Fanfare and Contrapunctus was given its radio premiere on WHYY’s “Showcase” in 2008. He has served as program annotator for Symphony in C and given pre-concert lectures for the Ernst C. Stiefel concert series at The New School. Harrison also plays fiddle and sings high tenor for the Union Street Preservation Society, a Brooklyn-based roots string band, which released its debut EP last summer.