Stanley Grill has been obsessed with music since the age of six, when his mother took him to Carnegie Hall and he was astonished and awestruck by a performance of “La Mer.” While that obsession first took the form of playing piano at every possible moment (when not otherwise engaged in activities typical of a kid growing up in the Bronx of the 1950’s and ‘60s), it was Stan’s music theory studies at the Manhattan School of Music that converted that obsession to writing music – and to finding his own musical voice.

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He learned the craft from extraordinary musicians: among others – Robert Helps, Leon Kushner, Ursula Mamlok and Joseph Prostakoff. Stan’s passion for medieval and Renaissance music has greatly influenced his writing – a contemporary expression of ageless techniques based on melody, modal harmonies, and contrapuntal, extended, interweaving lines. Two main themes permeate many of his works – music composed in an attempt to translate something about the nature of the physical world, and music composed to inspire and promote world peace.

 

Stan’s music has been performed the world over – from Ecuador to Poland; Toulouse to Tokyo; Brooklyn to Vienna – by such artists as New World Symphony, Camerata Philadelphia, Camerata Arkos, Duo+ Ensemble, Englewinds, Pandolfis Consort, Umbria Ensemble, Diderot Quartet, the Bronx Arts Ensemble, One World Symphony, violists Brett Deubner and Ralph Farris, and violinist Jorge Avila.