M. Roger Holland, II

M. Roger Holland II is a Teaching Associate Professor in Music and Religion and Director of The Spirituals Project at the Lamont School of Music, University of Denver. He earned the Doctor of Pastoral Music degree, with distinction, from Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University. A graduate of Union Theological Seminary in New York City where he received the Master of Divinity degree, Holland also served as Artist-in-Residence and director of the Union Gospel Choir for over 13 years. In 2015 Union awarded him the Trailblazers Distinguished Alumni Award, the first given to a graduate whose ministry is music, for his contributions to the legacy of African American music. He received a master’s degree in Piano Performance from the Manhattan School of Music, also in New York, and completed his undergraduate work at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey where he majored in Music Education with a concentration in piano and voice.

In 2023 the Association of Catholic Publishers awarded Holland both Composer of the Year and Song of the Year for his composition, “All of Me: Ode to Sr. Thea,” written in honor of Servant of God Sister Thea Bowman, currently a candidate for canonization. Holland is the editor of the In Spirit and Truth series published by GIA Publications, Inc., which reflects the aesthetic of Black Catholic worship. Commissioned works include The Dream and The Dreamer, The Tribulation Suite, UBUNTU: I Am Because We Are, and This Is the Day. He has played for the Broadway productions of Oprah Winfrey’s The Color Purple and the Tony award winning show, Memphis. In November 2016 Timothy Cardinal Dolan of the Archdiocese of New York presented Holland with the Pierre Toussaint Medallion for service.