Biography

Composer Damian Griffin (b. 1982) has a passion for choral music, enriched through associations with the Sydney University Musical, Madrigal and Musical Theatre Societies while completing an honours degree in Science (Advanced Mathematics). He served as Director of Music at St John’s College, within the University of Sydney (2005-2014), and further developed his education in composition at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

Damian has also had works performed by the Sydney Eclectic Composers’ Society, Kammerklang, Halcyon and Sounds Fine, the youth choir of Coffs Harbour Regional Conservatorium. Many of these pieces reflect his quirky view that contemporary music need not be painfully serious all of the time. In addition, he has found copying and transcription work to be a productive outlet for his analytical, perfectionist streak.

Composer website:  https://damiangriffinmusic.wordpress.com/

Featured Works

Zmey Lipa – Dragon of the Linden Tree, for voice and chamber orchestra.

The Dragon of the Linden Tree is one of several projects in the works for author Jacqueline Brocker. In the Cave and On the Hill present Zmey Lipa (the eponymous dragon) at two markedly different stages of his long life, conveying changes in his connections to the world around him. The first journeys into the past, reflecting on Zmey Lipa’s rise to greatness, while the latter moves forward to the present, when Peter, a research student, finds his own ways of relating to the dragon and his accumulated learning.

Featured in Playlist 5: Nature Waves (31/5/2015)