Holly is a performer of early flutes and percussion, internationally active as a musician, ensemble director, and scholar. Her research focuses on the transitional transverse flute at the beginning of the 16th century and music during the reign of Kaiser Maximilian I.
A passion for connecting the public with the wonders of early music led her to become the managing director of ReRenaissance – Forum Frühe Musik in 2023, an arts organization in Basel, Switzerland, which plans and presents new monthly concerts and a biannual festival, all dedicated exclusively to music before 1600.
Holly has been invited to perform in Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Germany, France, Finland, and Kosovo. She directs Zweigulden, focusing on repertoire around 1500 and the historical flute-and-drum duo, and co-directs Ensemble Parlamento, which began as a group of friends having Friday night Machaut parties in her living room in 2021; the following year, they won the Vier Jahreszeiten prize at Schola Cantorum Basiliensis.
Performing early music encompasses a range of fascinating activities: infusing historical evidence with artistic license, interpreting parchment manuscripts for a live audience, forging concepts and collaborations, parsing melodies and languages, and sharing sounds and stories.
EDUCATION
Holly studied medieval and Renaissance music performance at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel, Switzerland, completing a master's degree in 2022 with Johanna Bartz and Dr. Marc Lewon. Her research under the supervision of Dr. Martin Kirnbauer focused on the evolving transverse flute at the turn of the sixteenth century, its ensembles, and its political symbolism for Maximilian I (see link to thesis below). Liane Ehlich, Mara Winter and Norbert Rodenkirchen, as well as Catherine Motuz on improvisation and Gabriele Miracle and Enea Sorini in percussion have also shaped her approach to performance.
A native Californian, Holly majored in music performance and philosophy at Wheaton Conservatory of Music in Illinois. She then took on the role of Artist-Educator at Madison Creative Arts Program in Wisconsin, preparing interdisciplinary music lessons while studying topics like educational psychology and strategies of inclusion in the instrumental-music-education certification program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
With over fifteen years of experience in teaching music lessons, Holly is a passionate promoter of communal music-making, leading her to co-found and direct the independent, non-audition Oakhurst Community Choir in Decatur, Georgia, USA, before moving to Switzerland, where she enjoys hosting Sacred Harp singings, jam sessions, and house concerts.
She relishes the many opportunities to partner with other artists in Basel's vibrant early-music scene.
Os pecadores todos loarán (Cantiga de Santa Maria 240), MS E1, fol. 218v (ca. 1284)
Hartmann Schedel’s World Chronicle (Nuremberg: Anthonien Koberger, December 23, 1493), fol. 187v. Universitätsbibliothek Basel, UBH EA I 12.
Three Flute Players (1568), Giovanni Antonio Fasolo, Vicenza. renaissanceflute.ch
RESEARCH
Scarborough, Holly. “Music of the 16th-century Landsknechte: Maximilian’s Military Flute and Drum (Lecture-Recital).” Hörsaal der Musikwissenschaft / Philosophicum (organized in cooperation with the Institut für Musikwissenschaft). Johannes Gutenberg-Universitaet Mainz, Germany. 20. November 2023. Invited Presentation, accompanied by Philipp Wingeier.
Scarborough, Holly. “On Battlefields and in Frauenzimmer: Contexts of Maximilian’s Flute-and-Drum Ensemble around 1500.” Poster presented at: Medieval and Renaissance Music Conference (MedRen) 2023; 24.–28. July 2023; Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Munich Residence, Munich, Germany. Awarded MedRen 2023 Poster Prize, 3rd place.
Abstract of “Picturing the Flute of Maximilian I”
The mummeries, or masked dances, of Freydal (1512–1515), one of Maximilian's allegorical autobiographies, are a realistic portrayal of a flamboyant form of courtly entertainment denounced by the Church, and its colorful miniatures reveal thirty-five transverse flutes with diverse sizes, bore-widths, and colors, reflecting a transitional decade in the history of the flute. Noble ladies hosted these mummeries in their Frauenzimmer, where flutes and drums were also important for dance practice. The flutes of Freydal appear mostly in ensemble with drum, but also with trombone, other flutes, and singers, and historical records list dance and military flutes separately, suggesting that the quality of Maximilian's flute-and-drum music was closer to the revered alta capella than the military duo. Flutists, who were likely multi-instrumentalists capable of doubling and reading notation, wear black silk masks and matching costumes with Freydal's dancers, indicating an elevated social standing. By attaching himself to transverse flutes in his paper propaganda, Maximilian evokes the glory of crusade, local German tradition, and sensual, humanist ideals, thus marketing himself as "the merriest king."