About.
At Rhythms In My Head, guitarist and composer Peter Griggs creates music for recordings, soundtracks and performances. A native of New York City, he has recorded five solo albums on which he played all of the instruments and also recorded with artists including Iris Brooks, Glen Velez, Kudzu and Gamelan Son Of Lion.
​
Recordings:
​
After Hours (CD Baby): 9 original jazz-tinged compositions for guitars, bass & drums
The Sound Of Rain Drying, with Iris Brooks & Glen Velez (CD Baby): 6 original compositions for flute, guitar and percussion
Music For An Old English Christmas (CD Baby): wassailing tunes, Morris dances and English ballads in celebration of the season
Follow That Car (Rhythms In My Head): 10 rock & blues oriented compositions for guitars, organ, bass & drums
The Witching Hour (Rhythms In My Head): music for Halloween, scored for rock band and chamber ensemble
Christmas Around The World (Rhythms In My Head): 10 traditional carols from Spain, Portugal, France, Italy and England for voice, guitars, laud (a 12-string lute), flute, accordion and percussion
Children Of The Amazon (Treecastle Music), for guitars, synthesizer, Brazilian percussion and environmental sounds
The Complete Gamelan In The New World (Locust Records)
including Griggs' composition “Solar Winds”
Metal Notes (Locust Records), including Griggs compositions “Through The Looking Glass” and “Spirals/Gamelan N.E.A.”
Radio Iceland (Music Of The World), for flute, guitar and percussion.
​
Performances:
​
Griggs has presented more than 600 solo guitar concerts in the USA and Europe – primarily in Germany and the United Kingdom, as well as in Scandinavia, the Baltic States, the Low Countries, France, Switzerland, Austria, the Czech Republic and Croatia – at art centers, museums, galleries, libraries, churches, festivals and jazz clubs. His repertoire includes classical music of all periods, flamenco, jazz, blues, Brazilian music and his own compositions.
Soundtracks:
​
"India: Love & Devotion" - music for a 53 minute documentary film by Mario Gianpaulo, shot on location in India
"Odyssey Of The Hiroshima Maidens" - music for a radio drama broadcast on NPR in observation of the 60th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing
"Screening Architecture" - music for an architectural film by photographer Judith Turner
​
​
Background:
​
Griggs began his musical studies at the Juilliard School of Music Pre-College Division on French Horn, with Louis Ricci of the NY Philharmonic. He went on to study composition with Elliot Schwartz and improvisation with Marion Brown at Bowdoin College, world music at Wesleyan University, tabla with Pandit Sharda Sahai, and composition with Wilfred Mellers at York University (UK).
After spending a year traveling in India, Indonesia and Japan studying traditional music, Griggs returned to New York and worked as a free-lance composer, guitarist and percussionist. He performed in a trio with flutist Iris Brooks and percussionist Glen Velez and was a member of Gamelan Son Of Lion (new music percussion ensemble). He also worked as sound designer on more than 50 off-Broadway plays and composed music for modern dance, documentary film and other multi-media projects.
He has been commissioned by the National Endowment For The Arts, Meet The Composer, and the Mary Flagler Cary Trust. He has collaborated with choreographers including Nacho Duato, Sally Gross and Linda Diamond and theater groups including Pan-Asian Rep., Kings County Shakespeare Company and the Mint Theatre.
From 2002-2012, Griggs was based in Dusseldorf Germany and performed extensively through northern Europe. He currently resides in Cold Spring, New York, and continues to perform throughout the USA and abroad.
​
Critical Acclaim:
​
Critics in the United Kingdom and Germany have been particularly enthusiastic about Griggs’ concert performances. Gary Frager praised his “sizzling guitar playing” in Scotland’s Dundee Courier, while Gordon Calder of the Caithness Courier noted that “his talent and technical ability was there for all to see.” In the Hi-Arts Online Journal (Inverness), Alexander Smith wrote that Griggs’ approach to concert programming is “sophisticated and highly enjoyable.” Elke Sprunkel, in Cologne’s Stadt-Anzeiger, described “a master of soft and expressive sounds.” Sigrid Hedderich in the Bergische Morgen Post was even more emphatic: “An almost unbelievable talent! Peter Griggs performs magic!”
​
​
​
​