Jesse Griggs earned his Master of Music in Viola Performance at Bowling Green State University in 2007, having been awarded the Graduate String Quartet Assistantship. For his undergraduate degree, he was awarded a full-tuition music talent award to BGSU where he studied with Csaba Erdelyi and graduated with a Bachelor of Music in Viola Performance: Suma cum Laude and with University Honors. He has participated in master classes with Donald McInnis, Paul Neubauer, Jeffrey Irvine, Roger Chase, Karen Ritscher, Anner Bylsma, Merry Peckham, Roland Vamos, and David Ying, among many others.

He has performed under the batons of conductors including Klauspeter Seibel, David Barg, Emily Freemen Brown, Samuel Addler, Leonard Slatkin, and Robert Spano, among others, with orchestras including Lima Symphony Orchestra, BGSU Philharmonia (where he was principal violist), Firelands Symphony, Ottawa University Symphonette (Kansas), the Texas Music Festival Symphony, and the Omaha Symphony Orchestra. Griggs has collaborated with musicians such as Csaba Erdelyi, Rachel Barton Pine, Dr. Alan Smith, Dr. Penny Kruse, Dr. Andrew Pelletier, Josh Groban, Trans Siberian Orchestra, Manheim Steamroller, and members of the Pacifica Quartet. He has performed concertos with the Ottawa University Symphonette (Kansas) and Orchestra Omaha. In 2005, Griggs was invited to tour with the Bowling Green State University Men’s Chorus during their spring tour of New England.

In addition to his teaching at the Omaha Conservatory of Music, Griggs also coaches sectional rehearsals with the Omaha Area Youth Orchestra and appears regularly in the viola section of the Omaha Symphony Orchestra.

He also enjoys baseball, having played for 15 years and been an umpire for 12 seasons. Additionally, he enjoys a good game of disc golf or racquet ball and is an avid amateur aquarist.

What to expect in lessons with Jesse:

• Develop natural ways to use the body
• Explore a variety of repertoire
• Music will be our vehicle to become a better person!