The Boston-based vocal ensemble Tapestry will include my Duan Amhairghine (Song of Amergin), a setting in Irish Gaelic of an Ancient Irish Druidic text for women’s voices, violin, and bohdran on their program entitled American Dreams at:
Albright College Center for the Arts, Roop Hall, in Reading, Pennsylvania
Thursday, February 18, at 7:30PM
The Coolidge Auditorium of The Library of Congress, Jefferson Bldg., 101 Independence Ave. SE, Capitol Hill, Washington, DC
Friday, February 19 at 8PM
The Frick Collection
1 East 70th Street
New York, NY
Sunday, February 21 at 5PM
Other composers on the program include Samuel Barber, Aaron Copland, Billie Holiday, Alan Hovhaness, Malvina Reynolds, Joan Szymko, and Patricia Van Ness. The performers are Laurie Monahan, mezzo-soprano; Crist Cati, soprano; Daniela Tosic, alto, Diana Brewer, mezzo, fiddle; Shira Kammen, mezzo, fiddle, vielle; and Taki Masuko, percussion.
Tapestry performs Duan Amhairghine February 18, 19 & 21
Three Miniatures for Wind Quintet performed Three Times in Queens on January 25 & 26
The Quintet of the Americas will perform my Three Miniatures for Wind Quintet, which was inspired by the poetry of Juan Ramon Jiménez on:
Monday, January 25 , 2010 at 10:00AM
Catholic Charities Bayside Senior Center, Susan Shafer, Director
221-15 Horace Harding Boulevard, Bayside, NY
Tuesday, January 26, 2010 at 11:00AM
Salvation Army Center of Queens
86-07 35th Avenue, Jackson Heights
Tuesday January 26, 2010 at 1:00PM
Community Mediation Services
89-64 163rd Street, Jamaica
The quintet will be joined by singer Chris Vasquez on a program that includes Souvenir de Puerto Rico by Louis Moreau Gottschalk, Danzón from the ballet Fancy Free by Leonard Bernstein, Aires Tropicales by Paquito D’Rivera, Volver by Carlos Gardel with lyrics by Alfredo LePera, Naranjo en flor by Virgilio Exposito with lyrics by Homero Exposito, Marsias by Mario Lavista, works from the quintet’s CD Dancing in Colombia, and several Argentinian tangos.
This is just to say… premiere in Sweden on January 17
The follow-up public concert from this past summer’s activities in the Nätverksläger (New Music Incubator, see my previous post) will take place in Västerås Concert Hall, Sweden on January 17 at 5 PM. 18 composers and musicians from 5 countries will come together for this performance.
My contribution will be This is just to say, a comic, structured improvisation for narrator, vocalist, flute, cello and bass, with texts taken from William Carlos Williams’ poem of the same name and a handful of parodies of it by other authors. The idea for this piece came from an episode of the radio program This American Life, which described the poem as a non-apology apology, and the parodies attempt to take this form to new heights.
This is just to say / I have eaten / the plums / that were in / the icebox
and which / you were probably / saving / for breakfast
Forgive me / they were delicious / so sweet / and so cold
- William Carlos Williams
_____________________
This is just to say / I carved your name, not mine / into the arm of dad’s chair
sorry you were punished / but the wood was so gummy / and my knife was so sharp
- Sarah Vowell
_____________________
This is just to say / At our wedding I disappeared briefly
/ to have sex with your sister / up against the back of the port-o-sans.
What can I say / the chardonnay was so fresh and cold
and I, / so full of love and a sense of family.
- David Rakoff
_____________________
This is just to say
/ I have pulled the pin from the grenade on the desk / forgive me, I thought it was my key ring and…
- Jason Nicolas
The New Music Agency performs Concentric Dance in Lincoln, Nebraska, December 29
The New Music Agency will perform my Concentric Dance, a trio for flute, clarinet, and bassoon commissioned by the Mariah Winds in 1996, at Lincoln Unitarian Church in Lincoln, Nebraska, on Tuesday, December 29, 2009, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $10/$5.
The program will also include works by composers Tristan Fuentes, Randall Snyder, Giacomo Miluccio, Luke Polipnick, and Stacey Bowers.
Performers on this concert are Betsy Bobenhouse, Flute; Jessica Lindsey, Clarinet; Karen Sandene, Bassoon; and Joe Holmquist, Percussion.
Percussia performs Kusanganisa at St. John’s University on December 2
Flutist Margaret Lancaster joins Ingrid Gordon’s ensemble Percussia, for an eclectic flute and percussion program at St. John’s University in Queens, New York that includes my Kusanganisa (Mixing, for flute and marimba 4-hands, based in part on Zimbabwean mbira patterns).
Other works on the program include the world premiere of “Formas Del Viento” by Argentinean composer Alejandro Viñao; “First Concerto for Flute and Percussion” by innovative American composer Lou Harrison, and “Kembang Suling” by New Zealand’s Gareth Farr.
Musicians: Ingrid Gordon & Haruka Fuji, percussion; Margaret Lancaster, flute
December 2, 2009 at 4:30 PM
St. John’s University
The Dr. M. T. Geoffrey Yeh Art Gallery
Jamaica, Queens
Hashkivenu (SATTBB, a cappella)
A setting of the traditional prayer in Hebrew and English for SATTBB, a cappella, with Tenor solo (2003), ca. 3′20″.
Commissioned as part of a Faith Partners Residency, sponsored by the American Composers Forum and the Wolfensohn Family Foundation.
Premiered at Temple Emanu-el, Hunter Tillman, Senior Organist.
Now published by Transcontinental Music and distributed by Hal Leonard Corp, it is available for online perusal and purchase here. Transcontinental’s description of the piece: “Griffin’s ominous a cappella setting of this prayer manages to transcend two styles – while distinctly modern and American, its freigish mode keeps it unmistakably “Jewish.” Its intricacies make it a fulfilling endeavor for a more serious ensemble.”
Text:
Hashkivenu adonoy elohenu l’sholom v’hamidenu malkenu l’chayim. Uf’ ros olenu sukas sh’lomecho. Omen.
Cause us, O Lord, our God, to lie down each night in peace. And to awaken each morning to renewed life and strength. Amen.
Quintet of the Americas performs Three Miniatures for Wind Quintet November 16 & 17 in New York
The Quintet of the Americas will perform my Three Miniatures for Wind Quintet, which was inspired by the poetry of Juan Ramon Jiménez on Monday, November 16, 2009 at 1:00PM at Community Mediation Services in Jamaica, Queens, and Tuesday, November 17, 2009 at 11:00AM at the Salvation Army Center of Queens in Jackson Heights, as part of the 3rd annual Latin American Culture Week, a yearly city-wide event celebrating Latin American culture in venues throughout New York City.
The quintet will be joined by singer Chris Vasquez on a program that includes Souvenir de Puerto Rico by Louis Moreau Gottschalk, Danzón from the ballet Fancy Free by Leonard Bernstein, Aires Tropicales by Paquito D’Rivera, Volver by Carlos Gardel with lyrics by Alfredo LePera, Naranjo en flor by Virgilio Exposito with lyrics by Homero Exposito, Marsias by Mario Lavista, works from the quintet’s CD Dancing in Colombia, and several Argentinian tangos.
UT Knoxville Percussion Ensemble performs Twisting Magnetic Spins on November 15
The University of Tennessee School of Music at Knoxville’s Percussion Ensemble will perform my Twisting Magnetic Spins, a percussion septet commissioned in 2005 by the University of North Texas for Mark Ford’s percussion ensemble, on November 15 at 8:00 PM.
The program, directed by Mark Douglass and Elizabeth Soflin and featuring student percussionists, will include works by Bob Becker, Cynthia Barlow, Blake Tyson and Nebojša Jovan Živkovic.
Trio Animando performs Griffin Arrangements November 14 in Jumprava Parish, Latvia
The Latvian Trio Animando will include two of my arrangements on their November 14 concert at the Jumprava Culture House in Jumprava Parish, Latvia at 5PM.
They will include my arrangement of Pablo Sarasate’s Habañera/Carmen Fantasy – for Flute (Optional),Viola and Cello, which was commissioned by the trio’s Karlīna Īvāne, and my arrangement of the Sicilian Fischiettando.
Persistence of Past Chemistries performed by USC Percussion Ensemble October 26
The University of South Carolina at Columbia Percussion Ensemble will perform my quartet, The Persistence of Past Chemistries on their Fall Concert, on October 26 at 7:30 PM.
Other works on the program include Aybabtu, by Cameron Britt, A Ceiling Full of Stars by Blake Tyson, Quick Blood by Adam Silverman, Exploration of Time by Eckhard Kopetzki, and Ritmicas #5 and #6 by Amadeo Roldan.
A native New Yorker currently living and working in Latvia, Charles Griffin’s compositions and arrangements have been performed at festivals and concert halls throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Europe, Asia, Brazil, Cuba, and Puerto Rico.