Griffin composes for LA Philharmonic
In addition to playing the piano, violin, oboe and bassoon, senior Jason Griffin composes music. Griffin first began composing at age nine when he would improvise and make little melodies on the piano. At 14, Griffin started receiving composition lessons from William Kraft.
As a sophomore, Griffin applied to the LA Phil Composer Fellowship Program, a two-year program that gives four high school students from Southern California the opportunity to compose pieces for the LA Philharmonic.
Each participant was required to compose a piece for the orchestra to perform on April 13 and 20 at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. The orchestra also performed Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition,” a suite inspired by different paintings. Similarly, Griffin and the other participants were taken to the Museum of Contemporary Art prior to the concert to compose a new song based off a self-selected painting.
Griffin was drawn to “Untitled (The Cry),” a black and white painting with a zip of solid white down the middle.
“Because of the contrast between the pure white and the black, the brush strokes looked very incomplete and hurried,” Griffin said. “It suggested action, drama and conflict.”
Griffin completed his composition during Winter Break. And before the subsequent rehearsals, Griffin met with former conductor of the LA Phil, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and Samuel Adams, son of the current composer-in-residence of the LA Phil. In these meetings, they talked about the more practical side of the industry.
Griffin plans to double major in East-Asian Studies and Music Composition at Stanford. He hopes to receive commissions from orchestras in addition to performing. Griffin is also interested in researching Korean music, after watching the film “Suhpyunje” two years ago.
“When I watched my first Korean film about traditional Korean singing, it was the first time I listened to authentic Korean music,” Griffin said, “Nowadays, tonality and beat are added to it. I want to expose what Korean music actually is.”
