Jonathan Bailey Holland was delighted that Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra music director Louis Langrée had invited him to be the CSO’s composer-in-residence. But his first official responsibility in the position was more daunting than he expected.

The dilemma? Langrée has asked him to write a companion piece to Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 9,” a masterpiece that is one of the world’s best-known and most-beloved pieces of music. Aside from people’s love for the work, that affection meant that they actually know the work, as well.

“I remember thinking ‘That’s crazy, how could anyone write a piece that goes intentionally with Beethoven,’ ” recalls Holland. For one thing, there was the pressure of audience expectations. “It’s not like I am writing this piece in a vacuum. They – the audience – already have a notion of what the Beethoven is. They have a preconceived relationship with it. So that had to be a part of the equation when I started writing.”

Part of the equation, but not the whole thing. At 44, Holland has been writing music for more than two decades. His music has a strong character. And his compositional voice is distinctive. That’s why Langrée wanted him for this composer-in-residence position rather than a composer who was still discovering his voice.

“Jonathan is an old friend of the CSO,” says Langrée. “He composed his first piece for us more than 15 years ago. This piece that we are about to perform is his fifth piece for us. So we have a relationship with him, a friendship.”

Indeed, he was commissioned to write a work for the inaugural concert when the CSO returned to Music Hall. It was a work that managed to be both reflective and celebratory. And, says Langrée, it showed the depth of the relationship that Holland and the CSO share.

“He knows the musical identity of the CSO,” says Langrée. “He knows our strengths and what makes us different from other orchestras. He knows the hall, also – the renovated hall. You know, it is not just a matter of composing music. It’s also having an idea of how it is going to sound. That is the wonderful thing about having a composer-in-residence.”

“That’s ‘in residence’ in 2018 terms,” says Holland, with a laugh. Holland is well-established as the Chair of Composition, Theory and History at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee in Boston.

But he will be traveling to Cincinnati with some frequency this year. And the CSO will make the most of those visits. So, for instance, when he travels here for the premiere of this new work – it’s titled “Ode,” by the way – he will also work with the participants in a young composers’ competition that the orchestra is administering. Later, in January, when he is here to attend a Freedom Center concert he helped curate, he’ll be working with them again.

“It’s ideal for him to be working with these young composers,” says Langrée. “He has much to share with them. And he wants to share with them. As a composer, Jonathan is so smart. And as a person, he is so generous. These are qualities I want these young composers to experience. It will be so wonderful to have him here. Generally, we have an idea of composers being in their ivory towers and being inaccessible. That is, I suppose, because most of them are dead. We can’t speak with Beethoven. But Jonathan is here and alive and filled with answers.”

It’s clear that this is a relationship that Langrée relishes. He often talks about being the “spokesman for the composer.” Very clearly, he believes that people who write music – good music – are to be held in high regard.

“Jonathan is more than a person we have hired to write music for us,” says Langrée. “He is a friend. To the musicians. To the audience. To all of Cincinnati. It is a distinction that makes all the difference.”

If you go

What: “One City: Beethoven 9,” performed by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra

When: 8 p.m. Nov. 9-10

Where: Springer Auditorium, Music Hall, 1241 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine

Tickets: $14-$115

Information: 513-381-3300; cincinnatisymphony.org

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