Alan Holley studied composition with Ross Edwards in 1973 at the University in Sydney.

Holley received an Australia–Japan Foundation Travel Grant in 1977 which enabled him to undertake a two-month study tour attending new music festivals in Japan.

The following year he was awarded grants from the Gulbenkian Foundation and the Music Board of the Australia Council to represent Australia at the Gulbenkian Foundation Summer School for Composers and Choreographers at Surrey University in the United Kingdom.

[2] Holley was the recipient of Composers' Fellowships from the Music Board of the Australia Council in 1980 and 1982.

In 1986 he founded the new music ensemble, The Gallery Players, and in 1989, the Sydney Bach Orchestra.