Dr. JON JEFFREY GRIER
Jon Jeffrey Grier holds a D.M.A. in Composition and a M.M. in Theory from the University of South Carolina, where he studied with Gordon R. Goodwin, Samuel Douglas, and Jerry Curry; a M.M. in Composition from Western Michigan University, studying with Ramon Zupko, and a B.A. from Kalamazoo College, studying composition with Lawrence Rackley Smith. From 1988 to 2019 Jon was Instructor of Music Theory, Music History, and Composer in Residence at the Greenville Fine Arts Center, a magnet school of the arts in Greenville, SC, where he was voted Teacher of the Year three times. Jon composed frequently for student and faculty performers at the FAC, usually when he should really have been grading papers.
Among Jon’s awards are the 2016 South Carolina Arts Commission Fellowship in Music Composition and the 2014 Carl Blair Award for Excellence in Arts Education from the Greenville Metropolitan Arts Council. In 2009 he was the winner of the inaugural Rapido! Composition Contest sponsored by the Atlanta Chamber Players and in 2004-05 he received a fellowship from the Surdna Foundation. He has received grants and commissions from the South Carolina Arts Commission, the Greenville County Youth Orchestra, the Michigan Music Teachers Association, the American Composers Forum, and the Alliance for Quality Education; his works have been performed by the Kandinsky Trio, the Ceruti Quartet, the Aurelia Trio, the Ritz Chamber Players, Sounds New, Conversant, and the Greenville Symphony, to name a few. Jon has also been a writer/keyboardist with various jazz ensembles in Greenville since 1984. He lives in Greenville with wife Marion and two manic mongrels.