B i o g r a p h y
The music of Margi Griebling-Haigh has been characterized as haunting, charismatic, yearning, wistful, lyrical, colorful, and insoucient! She is concerned with conveying emotions and moods, but firmly believes in the powers of memorable melodies and rhythms and strong formal structure. While her music is sometimes technically challenging and rhythmically tricky, consideration for the comfort and enjoyment of performers and audience members alike is of great importance. Her catalogue includes numerous songs and chamber music compositions, piano solo pieces, orchestral works, and dramatic works.
Ms. Griebling-Haigh has been Composer in Residence at the Kent/Blossom Music Festival since 2011. Her music has been repeatedly featured on American Public Media's "Performance Today". Scenes from her opera "The Higgler" and her chamber orchestra work Alegrìas (with choreography and dance by Verb Ballets) have been featured in collaborations between the Cleveland Chamber Symphony and the Cleveland Composers Guild, with Steven C. Smith conducting. Scenes from "The Higgler" have also been performed by Cleveland Opera Theater. She has recently enjoyed collaborating with the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra led by Paul Ferguson.
Ms. Griebling-Haigh has received commissions from International Society of Bassists, The Meg Quigley Bassoon Competition, Cleveland Orchestra Principal Hornist Richard King and Assistant Principal Bassoonist Barrick Stees, Cleveland Orchestra (deceased) Principal Oboist John Mack, The Alabama Arts Council, Vandoren USA, renowned organist Karel Paukert, the Schenectady Symphony, the Cleveland and Kulas Foundations, The Cleveland Institute of Music Cello Ensemble, the Greater Akron Musical Association, Hendrix College Music Department, the Crosstown, Fiati, and Huntingdon Trios, and a group of 16 nationally renowned flutists from across the country, among others. She received a Jerome Composer Commission from the American Composers Forum, which resulted in a chamber music setting of the Norwegian Folk
Tale Askelad and the Seven Silver Ducks, complete with a recording by the Vecchione/Erdahl Duo, and her own illustrated children's book. Askelad and her chamber music version of The Story of Babar, the Little Elephant have been on the roster of Young Audiences of Minneapolis for several seasons. She has also collaborated twice with The Poets' League of Greater Cleveland and has had music choreographed by Karen Gabay, principal dancer of the (former) Cleveland-San Jose Ballet.
Ms. Griebling-Haigh's music is published by Jeanne, Inc., Trevco, Inc., and her own company, Musicalligraphics. Her music is featured on 17 CD recordings, on the Centaur, Capstone, and Jeanné labels, as well as on independently released projects.
Ms. Griebling-Haigh served as Principal Oboist at the Heidelberg Schlossspiele Festival in 1981, and has performed as an oboist and English hornist with symphonies throughout New York State, as well as Erie, Pennsylvania, and northeast Ohio. She spent summers from 1985 to 1990 at the Pierre Monteux Memorial School in Maine, studying orchestral repertoire, performing, and composing, and counts this place and its people among her dearest influences.
Ms. Griebling-Haigh also owns a small music publishing company works as a professional music copyist and editor under the name Musicalligraphics. Over the years she has copied for publishing companies such as Theodore Presser, G. Schirmer, and Peer Southern; as well as for ensembles including the Cleveland Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic, and for composers such as Paul Schoenfield, Sydney Hodkinson, Joseph Schwantner, Samuel Adler, and many others. She has served on the faculty of the Cleveland Institute of Music as teacher of music notation and the computer music-copying program, Finale. Since 1990, she has been a very active member of the Cleveland Composers Guild, a non-profit organization which exists in order to assist its many composer members in having the highest possible quality performances of their works.
Margi Griebling-Haigh is proud to be a member of a family which includes three generations of composers. Born in Akron, Ohio in 1960, she began her musical training in early childhood with her parents, Mary Ann and Stephen T. Griebling. Before graduating from high school, she had already won many awards in composition on the local, state, and national levels, including a grant from BMI (Broadcast Music Inc.) in 1975, and First Prize in the National Federation of Music Clubs Competition for New Orchestral Works in 1978. She studied piano with Margaret Baxtresser and oboe with Harvey McGuire and John Mack of the Cleveland Orchestra, and became principal oboist of the Akron Youth Symphony and the University Circle Youth Orchestra, winning concerto competitions with both. Majoring in oboe performance, she earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music with Robert Sprenkle and a Masters degree from the San Francisco Conservatory with Marc Lifschey.