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.
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.
Conductor Barbara Day Turner of the San José Chamber Orchestra will lead the Thüringer Symphoniker Saalfeld-Rudolstadt through two performances of two movements from my Weaving Olden Dances: Concerto for Chamber Orchestra on October 16 at 7:30 PM at the Meininger Hof in Saalfeld and October 17 at 7:30 PM at the Großes Haus in Rudolstadt, Germany.
Also on the program is Walter Leigh’s Concertino for Harpsichord and String Orchestra, Benjamin Britten’s Simple Symphony, and Franz Schubert’s Symphony No. 5.
»Weaving Olden Dances« schuf Charles B. Griffin einen überraschenden Mix aus Rhythmen und Formstilen unterschiedlichster Epochen und Kulturen – vom Mittelalter bis in die heutige Zeit. Inspiriert von Johann Sebastian Bach, fand der New Yorker in der Barocksuite die geeignete Form, um Musikstile der ganzen Welt zu verbinden. Der zweite und der vierte Satz dieser Suite werden zum ersten Mal in Europa in diesem Sinfoniekonzert unter der Leitung von Barbara Day Turner zu hören sein.
Mezzo Soprano Christina Dahl, along with pianist Thomas Buur, will give the Danish premiere of my So, We’ll Go No More a-Roving, a setting of a text by Lord Byron, on Tuesday, September 8 at 7PM at the Kulturcenter Kongensgade 111 in Fredericia, Denmark.
I met and worked with Christina this July in Norberg, Sweden at the Networking Camp for Composers and Musicians (see my earlier post, Nätverksläger för tonsättare och musiker at Klackbergsgården, in Norberg, Sweden, July 27-August 1).
Commissioned by Liepājas Osta (The Port of Liepāja) to commemorate the reconstruction and reopening of the Karosta Swing Bridge, Between Islands, a new electroacoustic work for trumpet will be performed by Olexijs Demchenko and me on August 28 at the site of the Karosta Bridge as the two parts of the swing bridge are reconnected for the first time in two years. The performance will take place at 6:30, following a 5PM processional from Rožu Laukums in the Liepāja city center to the bridge site.
The bridge is a uniquely designed swing bridge, and was completely destroyed by a ship two years ago, just short of what would have been the bridge’s 100th anniversary, and destroying the main access-way between the main city of Liepāja and the district of Karosta (the Naval Port in the region during the Soviet Era).
Between Islands is scored for Bb Trumpet and both prerecorded and live electronics. The prerecorded electronics were created or manipulated with Apple’s Logic and Propellerhead’s Reason software programs, and I will process the audio signal from the trumpet in real time using Korg’s Kaoss Pad 3.
The San José Chamber Orchestra’s Season Opening Concerts will feature pianist Jon Nakamatsu playing Mozart’s Piano Concerto #21 in C major, and the West Coast premiere of my Weaving Olden Dances: Concerto for Chamber Orchestra.
These performances, led by conductor Barbara Day Turner, are part of a series of performances by various American chamber orchestras who co-commissioned the piece. The concerts will take place at Le Petit Trianon Theater (72 N. 5th Street) in downtown San José, California on Saturday August 29, at 8PM and Sunday August 30, at 7PM.
Ticket prices are $30-$45 ($10 students) and can be ordered on line at: www.sjcotickets.org
The Piano Duo Gastesi-Bezerra will perform the entirety of my suite of pieces for piano four-hands From the Faraway Nearby, inspired by paintings by Georgia O’Keeffe in Brazil in July.
On July 18, the duo returns to the beautiful Pinacoteca Benedicto Calixto in Santos under the auspices of the Centro de Expansão Cultural. The program will also include Mozart’s Variations in G Major, Edino Krieger’s Sonata, Mendelssohn’s Variations in B-Flat Major, Debussy’s Petite Suite and and a new work by Dinah Menezes.
Pianist Ana Cervantes, as invited guest of the III Congress of Musicology of the University São Paulo in Ribeirão Preto will participate in roundtable discussions and give a solo recital of music from Rumor de Páramo / Murmurs from the Wasteland, an international commissioning project that pays homage to landmark Mexican writer and photographer Juan Rulfo (1917-1986) in which Cervantes asked composers — from México, Spain, the USA, Great Britain and Brazil— for a solo piano piece inspired in Rulfo’s work.
The concert on Friday, March 6 will include my contribution to the project, Murmuring in Comala, as well as works by Silvia Berg, Joaquín Gutiérrez Heras, Georgina Derbez, Arturo Márquez, Federico Ibarra, Anne LeBaron, Horacio Uribe, Mario LaVista, Jack Fortner, Tomás Marco and Stephen McNeff.
Soprano Kathryn Wieckhorst, accompanied by pianist Jeff Tanski will include my setting of Emily Dickinson’s Heart! We Will Forget Him! on her recital at the Gershwin Hotel (27th street between Madison and 5th) on Thursday, February 19th, 2009 at 8pm. Tickets are $10 at the door, cash only.
The program, The Varied Natures of Love, will feature American opera excerpts and the works of contemporary American composers. It will include works by Lori Laitman, Leonard Bernstein, Leonard Lehrman, Gian Carlo Menotti, Carlisle Floyd, Kurt Weill.
The Piano Duo Gastesi-Bezerra will perform the entirety of my suite of pieces for piano four-hands From the Faraway Nearby, inspired by paintings by Georgia O’Keeffe at the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, Florida on February 15 at 3PM. The Duo will feature an all-American program in conjunction with the exhibit “Georgia O’Keefe and Ansel Adams: Natural Affinities.”
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.
Recent projects include a lecture series on American music sponsored by the American Embassies in Latvia and Lithuania, performing with his traditional music quartet Uncle Joe, and completing work on a consortium commission from a group of American chamber orchestras.
Read more in the biography section.
