Jennifer Griffith moves between creative efforts as composer, pianist, and jazz vocalist. She composes “a wonderful tapestry of musical passion and humor,” says the New Music Connoisseur. Griffith has collaborated with playwright Dominic Orlando (whom she met at MacDowell), director Christopher Alden, and producers Stage|Time Collaborative on a one-act opera, Beautiful Creatures.
Notable commissions include In E, for the 2008 Festival Non Sequitur, and The Reed (2010), a chamber oratorio (in Persian and English), based on the poet Rumi's introduction to his epic poem, The Masnavi. Her pocket opera Dream President was presented at New York City Opera’s Vox 2004, and again at the Manhattan School of Music’s Opera Theater previews. Griffith has also written chamber works for Newspeak, Glass Farm, and Cygnus ensembles.
She came to the MacDowell in 2007, and has studied composition with Donald Wheelock, Thea Musgrave, David Del Tredici, and Tania León. She also sings jazz at New York venues and is featured vocalist on saxophonist Steve Elson’s CD, Mott and Broome.
