Joshua Groffman’s professional practice focuses on the intersection of sound, place, and the natural world. A native of New York’s Hudson Valley, his works have often focused on the physical and human geography of that area.
Previous performances have been with groups including the American Composers Orchestra, Ensemble Laboratorium, Vital Opera, Synergy 78, Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, New York New Music Collective, Poné Ensemble for New Music, Delaware Valley Chorale, Ars Musica Chorale, Duo 231, Bard College Vocal Arts Program, and the Indiana University Contemporary Vocal Ensemble. His works have appeared at June in Buffalo, SEAMUS National Conference, Quiet Village, Electroacoustic Barn Dance, College Music Society National Conference, Florida State University New Music Festival, Cal State Fullerton New Music Festival, New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival, Midwest Composers Symposium, and the 60×60 VoxNovus East Coast Mix.
Current and recent projects include Hear Here, a participatory soundscape project for chamber ensemble and multimedia, new works for the Fordham University Voices Up! concert series and the woodwind duo Synergy 78, and a collaboration with soprano Suna Avci and baritone Thomas Gunther.
Halcyon
The opera Halcyon (formerly Unfinished) is written in collaboration with poet Sarah Heady and commissioned and produced by Vital Opera. Currently in revision, Halcyon is scheduled for a pre-premiere workshop in June 2020.
Dialogue—Duet—Monologue
Dialogue—Duet—Monologue develops the idea of music as a response, an “adding in” to sounds already present in the environment—in this case, the scene shop of the theater program at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford. [read more]
Dearly beloved!
Written for soprano Lucy Dhegrae, Dearly beloved! is a work of spiritual ecology, setting a text by the 12th-century mystic Ibn ‘Arabi. [read more]
Landscapes
Landscapes for piano and live electronics is based on found sounds and musical memories from growing up in New York’s Hudson Valley. [read more]
Music from Elsewhere
Music from elsewhere is a concert-length series of works for instrumentations ranging from solo flute and piano to full orchestra. [read more]
MFE:Orchestra
Recorded live at American Composers Orchestra’s 2013 Underwood New Music Readings, George Manahan, conductor (americancomposers.org).
Joshua Groffman, composer & music theorist 