Biography

Saxophonist Amy Griffiths has performed throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, and Japan. In July 2006 she and clarinetist Lisa Oberlander presented the European premiere of Gregory Wanamaker’s Duo Sonata for alto saxophone and clarinet at the 14th World Saxophone Congress in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Griffiths and Oberlander also performed Wanamaker’s Duo at the International Clarinet Association conference in Atlanta in August 2006.

In 2003, Griffiths, Oberlander, Andrée Martin (flute), and Paul Vaillancourt (percussion) founded an unusual and versatile chamber group known as The Fountain City Ensemble. The FCE has toured the United States and Japan and in 2005 presented the world premiere in Tokyo of Found Objects, a new work written for the group by composer J.M. David.

Griffiths is featured as a soloist with the Columbus State University Percussion Ensemble on their recent recording of Charles Griffin’s Fist Through Traffic for alto saxophone and percussion. This CD is to be released in the winter of 2006.

As well as performing classical solo and chamber music, Griffiths frequently appears as a jazz soloist and annually hosts the regular meeting of the Columbus Jazz Society. She was featured as a soloist with the Maebashi Big Band in Japan in July 2006. For two years she was a member of Orquesta Panamericana, a salsa band in Phoenix, AZ. While in Phoenix she also was a founding member of the Dixie Devils, a group specializing in early New Orleans jazz. Since moving to Georgia she has played in several soul bands, including Saints and Sinners and Maxwell Lummus.

In addition to her performance schedule, Griffiths is on the faculty at Columbus State University’s Schwob School of Music. She maintains a dynamic saxophone studio and teaches saxophone quartets and chamber music, small-group jazz, and woodwind methods.