About

headshot_2019
photo by Emma O’Halloran

Adam Holmes is a Brooklyn-based musician and artist whose performances have been praised as “immaculately finessed” (Musical America) and compositions as “mesmerizing” (The Road to Sound) and “otherworldly” (New York Music Daily). He is an avid percussionist, drummer, and composer interested in creating and discovering sounds for himself and others.

As a composer, Adam writes a vast array of solo works, and has collaborated with groups such as Metropolis Ensemble, Desdemona, and Ensemble Ipse as well as bassist Will Yager. His latest release, Music for a Small Shelter with Desdemona, was described as “one of the sweetest sets of the season” (a closer listen) and “a mix of subtle, vibrant and eerie, but soothing” (Bklyner).

An active performer in the classical music scene, he has appeared as a soloist at the Bang on a Can Marathon, where he was lauded for his “sweetly shimmered” performance (The New York Times), and performs regularly as a solo experimental artist. He has worked with some of New York City’s most notable groups, including Metropolis Ensemble, NOVUS NY, Contemporaneous, The Chamber Orchestra of New York, and Sandbox Percussion, at venues such as The Brooklyn Academy of Music (NYC), The Kennedy Center (DC), Mass MoCA (MA) National Sawdust (NYC), Roulette (NYC), The Kitchen (NYC), and many more. Adam keeps busy in other genres, collaborating with techno artist IVT and post-metal band Lamniformes. His performance recordings can be heard on slashsound, Cantaloupe Music, New Amsterdam Records, and National Sawdust Tracks. He has been a guest lecturer at New York University and Colgate University.

Adam lives in Gowanus, Brooklyn, with his wife Cassie and their dog Olive, where he spends his days tuning pianos. He spends summers in North Adams, Massachusetts with the Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival.