Avery Griffin in Recital - Monday, July 19 at Noon

The Summer Noontime Concert Series continues on Monday, July 19 with performance by baritone & composer Avery Griffin and pianist Scott Bailey. The free, 45-minute concert will begin at 12:00 and will include J.S. Bach: Cantata 82 "Ich habe genug" and selections from Robert Schumann's "Liederkreis".

Bring your lunch to enjoy during the concert - St. John’s will provide drinks and cookies. Admission is free; voluntary contributions to help defray expenses are welcome.

The series will continue on Mondays through August 23, with musicians from Williamstown, New York and Boston. The schedule is as follows:

July 26: Gwendolyn Tunnicliffe, soprano; Robin Kibler, piano

August 2: Emily Kalish, violin

August 9: JungHee Park and EunHee Seok, duo-pianists

August 16: Sassok Eybiyan, violin; Scott Bailey, piano

August 23: Alicia Choi, violin; Amanda Verner, viola; Aleisha Verner, cello

Avery Griffin is a baritone and teacher of music theory who is active in New York, New Jersey, and New England. He is a member of the Trinity Choir, a professional ensemble under the direction of Steven Fox at Manhattan's historic Trinity Wall Street Church, which is responsible for providing music for Sunday services and other holy days, and presents a full concert series running from October through May. The 2009-2010 season included concerts featuring the Howells Requiem, the Musikalische Exequien of Schütz (conducted by Jane Glover), and a concert of twentieth and twenty-first century choral music featuring Veljo Tormis's Curse upon Iron (conducted by Stefan Parkman), in which Avery was featured as a soloist.

Avery is also a charter member of two new music ensembles: NotaRiotous and Roomful of Teeth.With NotaRiotous, a Boston-based chamber group affiliated with the Boston Microtonal Society dedicated exclusively to the performance of microtonal compositions, Avery has performed works by Pascale Criton, Jason Eckhardt, James Bergin, and Ezra Sims. Roomful of Teeth is an octet of classically trained singers dedicated to building a new vocal repertoire by incorporating non-classical techniques including Tuvan throat singing and yodeling into new works commissioned by the group.

During the summer months Avery is the music history and theory coordinator of the Boston University Tanglewood Institute, a high school program in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts, where he teaches vocalists, pianists, and harpists. He also lectures to young composers on writing for the voice and then performs the pieces that they compose for him.

Pianist Scott Bailey is staff accompanist/coach at Westfield State College where he serves the accompanying needs of student and faculty vocalists and instrumentalists. He has served as accompanist at UMass Amherst, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, and as Director of Choral Activities at Bay Path College. He was the choir director for the Bay Path College Festival Choir trip to Prague, Czech Republic for a weeklong Advent Festival. He is the music director at the First Congregational Church of North Adams, UCC, where he also coordinates the North County Music Series and directs the North County Ecumenical Choir.

Scott has been certified as a Colleague of the American Guild of Organists and is a member of the Berkshire and Springfield Chapters. He accompanies the Hampshire Choral Society in Northampton, MA and is a freelance pianist, organist, and music director throughout western Massachusetts. Scott has recently been featured on the Albany Records recording Connections by saxophonist Lynn Klock.