Erik Griswold
Composer, pianist (b. 1969)

Eclectic Australian-American musician Erik Griswold fuses experimental, jazz and world music traditions to create works of striking originality. Specializing in prepared piano, percussion and toy instruments, he has created a musical universe all his own that is "sincere" (neural.it), "playful" (igloo magazine), "colourful and refreshingly unpretentious" (Paris Transatlantic). Griswold performs as a soloist, in Clocked Out Duo (with percussionist Vanessa Tomlinson), and collaborates with musicians from diverse backgrounds as well as visual artists, writers, dancers and circus performers.

Ongoing interests in Minimalism, Jazz, Op Art, Free Improvisation, Dada, Latin percussion and Chinese traditional music have all influenced his work. Since 2000 he has pursued studies of Sichuan Opera percussion and folk music traditions during artistic residencies at Sichuan Conservatory and Sichuan University. Most recently he has created a number of new works for diverse instruments including percussion ensemble, pipe organ, and miniature music boxes.

Griswold has appeared in major international venues such as Melbourne Jazz Festival, Queensland Music Festival, London Jazz Festival, Sydney Opera House, Big Sur Experimental Music Festival, Tonic (N.Y.), The Empty Bottle (Chicago), Chengdu Arts Centre, Improvisa Festival (Barcelona), Nordic House (Reykjavic) and El Cruce (Madrid). He has recorded three solo albums, two Clocked Out Duo albums, and appears on several compilations (Clocked Out Productions, Room:40, Accretions/Circumvention, Newmarket). In addition, his compositions have been performed and recorded by adventurous musicians such as Margaret Leng Tan, Steven Schick, Anthony Burr, Topology, and Gabriella Smart.

He has received grants from the Australia Council for the Arts, Arts Queensland, and the AsiaLink Foundation. He currently teaches at Queensland Conservatorium and Queensland University of Technology and holds a PhD from the University of California, San Diego.