Vern Griffiths

Conductor

Vern Griffiths
Wave

Bio

Vern Griffiths is a dynamic and versatile performer who joined the Vancouver Symphony as Principal Percussionist in 1997.   He has also been a member of Standing Wave, the Music On Main All-Star Band, Turning Point Ensemble, CBC Radio Orchestra, and can be heard on soundtracks for Disney, ABC, IMAX, NFB, EA Sports, and Dreamworks.  2019 saw him perform the world premiere of Perxploitation, a full-length percussion concerto written for him by Nicole Lizée.  He has performed his kids show hit, Wall to Wall Percussion, over 60 times with the Toronto, Winnipeg, Lima (OH), Calgary, Edmonton, Victoria, and Vancouver Symphonies.

He made his VSO conducting debut in 2013 in Stravinsky’s Histoire du Soldat, and has since conducted various pops, kids, and education shows with the orchestra, including Stewart Copeland’s Police Deranged, Holly Cole Christmas, and two more education shows he’s written, called What Do YOU Play? and The Composer is Here.  Vern has also performed The Composer is Here with the Edmonton Symphony and Victoria Symphony.

He has a particular interest in working with living composers, and has conducted works by Jocelyn Morlock, Alfredo Santa Ana, Dorothy Chang, John Estacio, Nico Muhly, Rita Ueda, Andrea Tarrodi, Laura Pettigrew, and Marcus Goddard.  He is also a composer, and recently had two of his works recorded by the VSO.

This season Vern will be conducting Home Alone, and Tony DeSare's Cole Porter shows on the Pops series.