Faculty

Wendy Griffiths has composed chamber works, songs, orchestral works and dance scores. Her concert music has appeared on the Composers Concordance series, at the Merce Cunningham studio, the Manhattan School of Music, the Yale-Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, the Storm King Music Festival, Music Under Construction (of which she is a founding member) and in Stockholm performed by the Acidophilus Ensemble. Her works have also been performed by the Washington Master Chorale, the Double Entendre double reed ensemble, The Hudson Trio and the Parhelion Trio.The composition of her opera “The Quiet American,” was supported by the National Endowment for the Arts. She has also received grants from Meet the Composer and the American Music Center. She has been commissioned to compose scores for Beth Soll and Company (2019), Double Entendre Double Reed Ensemble (2023) and Alison Cook Beatty Dance (2024). Griffiths appears as a keyboard player/singer/bassist with her band Changing Modes (www.changingmodes.com) with whom she has recorded 2 EPs and 10 full-length CDs (Arabesque Records). The band won the 2013 M.E.A.N.Y. Festival and has been featured at International Pop Overthrow NY and Chicago and at M.E.O.W. Con in Austin. New York Music Daily called her one of the best songwriters in New York City. In addition, Ms. Griffiths works as a ballet accompanist and currently plays for the Joffrey Ballet School, Peridance and Steps on Broadway. Ms. Griffiths holds a B.A. from Barnard College and an M.M. from the Mannes College of Music. She received her D.M.A. in music composition from the CUNY Grad Center where she studied with Thea Musgrave, Bruce Saylor and David Olan. She has taught Songwriting, Piano and Orchestration and currently teaches Techniques of Music and Keyboard Harmony at the Mannes School of Music.

B.A., M.M., D.M.A.