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Jonathan Griffith, Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of New York's Distinguished Concerts International, is a dynamic and charismatic conductor, lecturer, and workshop facilitator. Dr. Griffith has been actively teaching, lecturing, consulting, and performing in the fields of voice, choral music, and symphonic conducting.
He has guest conducted for the Bialystok State Philharmonic, Poland, Virtuosi Pregensis Chamber Orchestra, Karlovy Vary Symphony Orchestra, Dvořák Chamber Orchestra and Bohuslava Martinu Philharmonia, Czech Republic, the European Symphony Orchestra, Spain, Manhattan Philharmonic, New York, Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Salt Lake City, and numerous regional orchestras and choruses throughout the U.S.
He was featured in an interview for a Christmas Day broadcast of National Public Radio's Morning Edition as conductor of the Carnegie Hall World Premiere of Earnestine Rodgers Robinson's The Nativity. Founder and Music Director of the Kansas City Chorale, a professional chorus praised for its excellence by the celebrated American conductor Roger Wagner, he has served as Chorus Master for the Utah Opera company, Salt Lake City, and the Portland Opera, Portland, Oregon. In 1987, he formed the Jonathan Griffith Singers, an ensemble of professional musicians that has performed in the Portland area and has recorded on the Chronicler and Bonneville Classics labels. In 1989, Dr. Griffith made his Carnegie Hall début conducting the Portland Opera Chorus, Portland Opera Children's Chorus and the Manhattan Philharmonic in the world premiere of Pamelia: A Choral Suite by Montana composer Eric Funk and the New York premiere of Sergie Taneyev's John of Damascus.
In January 1997, he conducted the world premiere of The Crucifixion by Memphis, Tennessee composer, Earnestine Rodgers Robinson in a Carnegie Hall Martin Luther King Commemorative Concert. In June, he premiered Seymour Bernstein's Song of Nature and Jeffrey Bishop's Mankind and Mother Earth, as well as guest conducted the Kansas City Youth Symphony in a performance of Dvořák's Te Deum and Franck's Psalm 150. In January and April, 1998, he conducted Fauré's Requiem and in May, Mozart's Mass in C-minor, all at Carnegie Hall on MidAmerica's concert series.
He is currently the Artistic Director for the Institute of Voice in Portland, Oregon. The Institute is a unique academy catering to all aspects of the human voice. Conceived by Dr. Griffith, the Institute provides private and classroom instruction, seminars, workshops, lectures, training, consulting, and performing opportunities.
Jonathan Griffith has served on the faculties of Marylhurst College, Warner Pacific College, the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and Wichita State University. He has taught grades 1-12 in public schools, as well as serving as Music Director for numerous churches of various denominations.
He made his Carnegie Hall conducting debut in 1989. His 40+ Carnegie Hall appearances include the major works of the classical repertoire, as well as the U.S. premieres of Taneyev's Upon Reading a Psalm, Czech composer Milos Bok's Missa Solemnis, Luigi Boccherini's Villancicos, and Eugene Goossens re-orchestration of Handel's Messiah, and numerous world premieres, including Eric Funk's Pamelia, Seymour Bernsteins' Song of Nature and Robert Convery's The Unknown Region, and I Have a Dream.
A native of St. Louis, he received his B.M.E. from the University of Kansas, a M.M.E. from Wichita State University, and his D.M.A. in conducting from the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
Mormon Tabernacle Choir | Salt Lake City, UT |
Manhattan Philharmonic | New York, NY |
New England Symphonic Ensemble | New York, NY |
Bialystok State Philharmonic | Bialystok, Poland |
Dvořák Chamber Orchestra | Zlin, Czech Republic |
Bohuslava Martinu Philharmonia | Zlin, Czech Republic |
Virtuosi Pregensis | Prague, Czech Republic |
Karlovy Vary Orchestra | Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic |
Marylhurst Symphony Orchestra | Portland, OR |
St. Michael's Festival Orchestra | Chicago, IL |
Youth Symphony of Kansas City | Kansas City, MO |
| Orchestral/Concerti | |
Bach | Brandenburg concerto no. 4 BWV 1049 |
Beethoven | Symphony no. 1, C major; Choral Fantasy; |
Elgar | Introduction and Allegre |
Faure | Pavane op. 50 |
Mozart | Serenata Notturna D major, K.239 |
| Concerto for 2 pianos, E-flat major, K.316a |
Mendelssohn | Ruy Blas Overture, op. 95 |
Rachmaninoff | Piano Concerto no. 2, op. 18, in C minor |
Schubert | Rondo A major for violin and orchestra |
| Konzertstuck D major |
Von Weber | Der Freischutz: Overture |
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| Major Works/Chorus and Orchestra (Selected List) | |
Beethoven | Mass in C Major |
Bruckner | Te Deum |
Durufle | Requiem |
Dvořák | Te Deum |
Faure | Requiem |
Handel | Messiah |
Haydn | Lord Nelson Mass |
Mozart | Coronation Mass |
| Mass C minor |
| Requiem |
Orff | Carmina Burana |
Saint-Saens | Oratorio de Noel |
Thompson | Frostiana |
Verdi | Requiem |
Earnestine Rodgers Robinson | The Nativity | 2001 |
Goossens | Re-orchestrated Messiah | 2001 |
Bok | Missa Solemnis | 1999 |
Boccherini | Villancicos | 1998 |
Bishop | Mankind and Mother Earth | 1997 |
Bernstein | Song of Nature | 1997 |
Rodgers-Robinson | The Crucifixion | 1996 |
Taneyev | Upon Reading a Psalm | 1995 |
Funk | Pamelia | 1989 |
Taneyev | John of Damascus | 1989 |
