Margaret Griebling-Haigh was born on November 17, 1960 in Akron, Ohio. When she was two, her family moved to Wimbledon, England, where they lived for four years. During this time, Margi began her musical training with her parents, Mary Ann and Stephen T. Griebling. Both of her parents and her older sister, Karen Griebling, are also composers, so that from the very beginning, composing music seemed to be a natural and normal thing to do. In 1967 the Grieblings moved back to Akron, and Margi began studying piano and violin. The violin did not suit, however, and at age nine she began studying the oboe (which very much did suit!). Later she studied piano with Margaret Baxtresser and oboe with Harvey McGuire and John Mack of the Cleveland Orchestra. She became principal oboist of the Akron Youth Symphony and the University Circle Youth Orchestra and won concerto competitions with both. In college she earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music with Robert Sprenkle and a Masters degree from the San Francisco Conservatory with Marc Lifschey, having at both schools eschewed the opportunity to pursue a major in composition as well.

Before graduating from high school, Ms. Griebling-Haigh had already won many awards in composition on the local, state, and national levels, including a grant from BMI (Broadcast Music Inc.) in 1975, and First Prize in the National Federation of Music Clubs' Competition for New Orchestral Works in 1978. Although she never studied composition formally, she has received commissions from the Huntingdon Trio of Philadelphia, Schenectady Symphony, the Cleveland Foundation, and the Greater Akron Musical Association, among others.

In her musical creations, Ms. Griebling-Haigh is concerned with conveying emotions and moods, as well as with somehow capturing fleeting impressions from nature. She identifies deeply with the feelings and descriptions written in the poetry of Edna St. Vincent Millay, and would have loved to have known that poet. She has never made an attempt to experiment musically simply for the sake of experimentation, but writes what appeals to herself and what seems honest and unaffected. Her music has been characterized as yearning, wistful, lyrical, and colorful.

Ms. Griebling-Haigh spent summers from 1985 to 1990 at the Pierre Monteux Memorial School in Maine, studying orchestral repertoire and composing, and she still occasionally visits this place and its people, whom she counts among her dearest influences. Her catalogue includes numerous songs and chamber music compositions, piano solo pieces, and orchestral works. She has performed as an oboist and English hornist with symphonies throughout New York State, as well as Erie, Pennsylvania, and northeast Ohio.

Ms. Griebling-Haigh also works as a professional music copyist under the name Musicalligraphics. Over the years she has worked for publishing companies such as Theodore Presser, G. Schirmer, and Peer Southern; as well as for ensembles including the Cleveland Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic, and for composers such as Paul Schoenfield, Margaret Brouwer, Sydney Hodkinson, Joseph Schwantner, Samuel Adler, and many others. This year and last she has been invited as a guest music-copying teacher at the Cleveland Institute of Music. She is currently serving her second two-year term as Chairman of the Cleveland Composers Guild, a non-profit organization which exists in order to assist its many composer members in having the highest possible quality performances of their works. She resides in Cleveland Heights with her husband, Scott Haigh, who is on the faculties of the Cleveland Institute of Music and Oberlin College Conservatory, and is First Assistant Principal Bassist with the Cleveland Orchestra; and their daughter, Gabrielle.

See Margaret Griebling-Haigh's works collected at the University of Akron library.

Archived Works List

Bocadillos (1994)
Instrumentation: Violin and Piano

Collioure (1991) Commissioned by the Huntingdon Trio
Instrumentation: English Horn, 'Cello and Piano

Commissariat Camels (1998) Poetry by Rudyard Kipling
Instrumentation: Tenor or Baritone and Piano

Coquin' arena (1998)
Instrumentation: Flute Choir

Homages (1989)
Instrumentation: Orchestra (3332 4221 timp 2perc harp pna strings)

from "Huntsman, What Quarry?" Poetry by Edna St. Vincent Millay. I. The Princess Recalls Her One Adventure (1980) II. Hunstman, What Quarry? (1983)
Instrumentation: Baritone and Piano

Love Is Not Blind (1996) Poetry by Edna St. Vincent Millay.
Instrumentation: Baritone and Piano

Lullaby for Ariana (1985)
Instrumentation: Piano

Oh, Think Not I Am Faithful (1996) Poetry by Edna St. Vincent Millay.
Instrumentation: Baritone and Piano

The Seals Lullaby (1995) for Julia and Karl Kraus to celebrate the arrival of Milan. Poetry by Rudyard Kipling
Instrumentation: Baritone and Piano

Second Century Prelude (1987) for the 100th anniversary of the Tuesday Musical Club
Instrumentation: Brass Quintet (2111)

Sonata for Double Bass & Piano (1984)
Instrumentation: Double Bass and Piano

Songs for Young Lovers Poetry by Edna St. Vincent Millay. I. Armenonville (1981) II. There at Dusk I Found You (1980) III. The Princess Recalls Her One Adventure (1980) IV. Song for Young Lovers in a City (1981) V. Huntsman, What Quarry? (1983)
Instrumentation: Soprano and Piano

Sonnets Poetry by Edna St. Vincent Millay I. Sonnet xl (1986) II. Sonnet xv (1985) III. Sonnet xlii (1985)
Instrumentation: Soprano and Piano

Two Bagatelles for Bassoon and Oboe (1974)
Instrumentation: Bassoon and Oboe

Two Bagatelles for Two Trumpets (1992)
Instrumentation: 2 Trumpets

Undersea Odyssey (1970) I. Jellyfish II. Sea Turtles III. The Shark IV. Sea Squirt V. Queen trigger Fish
Instrumentation: Piano

See a complete works list, including non-archived works, with a brief history of each work.