Margi Griebling-Haigh

Margi Griebling-Haigh is an American composer based in Cleveland OH. Her compositions are driven by memorable melodies and strong rhythms, bound together by a cohesive formal structure. Her impressionistic use of musical color and harmonic language have inspired comparisons to Barber, Ravel, and Poulenc. Her music has been praised for its “rich and haunting personality” and “sinuous and impassioned conversations” (Gramophone Magazine) as well as for “zesty rhythmic shapes and exotic harmonic language” (Cleveland Plain Dealer). Her catalog includes numerous art songs and chamber music compositions, orchestral works, narrated dramatic works, and opera.

Griebling-Haigh has been Composer in Residence at the Kent/Blossom Music Festival since 2011. Her music has been aired repeatedly on American Public Media’s Performance Today. Scenes from her opera The Higgler and her chamber orchestra work Alegrìas (with choreography and dance by Verb Ballets) have been featured in collaborations between the Cleveland Chamber Symphony and the Cleveland Composers Guild, with Steven Smith conducting. Scenes from The Higgler have also been performed by Cleveland Opera Theater. 

Griebling-Haigh has received commissions from International Society of Bassists, Alabama State Council on the Arts, The Meg Quigley Bassoon Competition, Cleveland Orchestra Principal Hornist Richard King and Assistant Principal Bassoonist Barrick Stees, Cleveland Orchestra (deceased) Principal Oboist John Mack, Vandoren USA, organist Karel Paukert, the Schenectady Symphony, the Cleveland and Kulas Foundations, The Cleveland Institute of Music Cello Ensemble, the Greater Akron Musical Association, Hendrix College, and the Crosstown, Fiati, and Huntingdon Trios, among others. Her works have been featured by the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra, at the Guildhall School of Music Double Reed Day, and by the (former) School of Cleveland-San Jose Ballet. She received a Jerome Composer Commission from the American Composers Forum, which resulted in a chamber music setting of the Norwegian folk tale Askelad and the Seven Silver Ducks, complete with her own illustrated children’s book.

Griebling-Haigh is proud to be a member of a family which includes three generations of composers. Born in Akron OH in 1960, she began her musical training in early childhood with her parents. Before graduating from high school, she had already won many awards in composition including a grant from BMI (Broadcast Music Inc.) and First Prize in the National Federation of Music Clubs Competition for New Orchestral Works. She studied piano with Margaret Baxtresser and oboe with Harvey McGuire and John Mack of the Cleveland Orchestra. Majoring in oboe performance, she earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music and a master’s degree from the San Francisco Conservatory. She spent summers from 1985 to 1989 at the Pierre Monteux Memorial School in Maine, studying orchestral repertoire, performing, and composing. Since 1990, she has been an active member and frequent officer of the Cleveland Composers Guild, a non-profit organization which exists in order to assist its many northeast Ohio composer members in presenting high quality performances of their works. 

Griebling-Haigh’s music is published by Jeanné, Inc., Trevco, Inc., and her own company, Musicalligraphics. Her music is featured on recordings on the Navona, Centaur, Capstone, Blue Griffin, and Jeanné labels, as well as on numerous independently released projects.