​Holly Collis Handford is a Canadian composer and performance artist who aims to uplift and inspire through music. She most recently composed and produced a 20 minute original musical about queer chosen family and is currently working on an hour long original musical for her graduation recital from Mannes School of Music, which will premiere this spring! In New York City, Holly's incidental theatre and vocal music has been featured in productions at 122CC, Bank St Theater, and Elebash Recital Hall and her orchestral works have been read by JACK Quartet and the Mannes Orchestra.
In Canada, Holly's compositions featured in several premieres of new musicals including Gillty as Fin, an underwater comedy from Studio 58 (2024), Waiting For Garbo, an environmental activism musical from Curious Creations Theatre (2023), and Axis Theatre’s outdoor Commedia dell’arte production Juggle Me Not (2021). She is currently composing the music for Our Lady of Broken Pieces, a new musical by B.C. playwright Diane Currie Sam. Holly is a member of the sketch comedy group Riot, with whom she performed original music in Just For Laughs’ 2024 and 2025 Best of the West programming, and her music direction and arrangement for White Rock Players’ Club’s Casablanca was nominated for the 2025 Cleo Award ‘Music to my Ears.’ In 2024 Holly wrote and scored the short film Late Bloomer, a story that reframes discovering queerness as the solution to a problem rather than the cause.
Holly served for three years as composer for Vancouver Opera’s Project Opera program developing original works with elementary school students, and for two years as music director for Arts Umbrella’s youth Musical Theatre Intensive. Holly toured nationally with Axis Theatre’s The Troll Grandfather (2023) performing on accordion and puppeteering a nine-foot dragon. Her most recent theatre performance credits include playing Anybodys in West Side Story (CTORA 2025) and Skimbleshanks in Cats (Theatre Under the Stars 2024). Originally from Vancouver Island, Holly holds an ARCT in Classical Voice Performance from Canada’s Royal Conservatory of Music and a BFA in Acting from the University of British Columbia. She is currently based in New York City completing her Master’s of Music Composition at Mannes School of Music.