“Briggs’ music is among the finest written in our time. It is lauded as modern music that is compelling, imaginative, and communicative to today’s listeners,” Thomas said. “He is the winner of many international first place awards, reviewers continue to stress his music’s ‘rare power of communication,’ using words and phrases like: delicate, haunting, trance-inducing; intrinsic appeal to the senses; brilliant and expansive; music that coaxes the imagination to unconscious imagery; and, and immersion in atmosphere and color. 

Thomas said Briggs’ music is being performed in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Japan, and South America by ensembles like the London Symphony Orchestra, the Prague Symphony, the Seattle Symphony and more. “Over the years, he has received numerous commissions, grants, awards, and prizes for his outstanding work,” Thomas added.

Briggs received his PhD at the Eastman School of Music and attended the University of Memphis and the Dartington Institute in England, where he received top honors in composition, conducting and performance. He studied composition with some of the great composers of the 20th and 21st centuries, including E. Adler, Eugene Kurtz, Don Freund, Joseph Schwantner, and Peter Maxwell Davies, Thomas said. Briggs is Professor Emeritus of Composition at Western Washington University, Conductor Emeritus of the Bellingham Symphony Orchestra, and currently resides in Charlottesville, Virginia, where he devotes himself to full time composing and part time teaching.

“We have a connection with him through Dr. Jean Johnson, retired Enterprise State Community College Fine Arts Division chair,” said Thomas. Through this connection, Thomas has recently commissioned the composition “Guardians” by Briggs.

“This music is composed for organ and percussion in memory of David Bruce Deal, a patron of the arts in the area and donor of the Viscount organ that resides at the college, and Rex Everage, former esteemed English Instructor at ESCC and patron of the arts. It is an honor and a privilege to offer this premier performance.”

This music will be premiered at the CCAA season kickoff Aug. 20. Johnson will be at the organ and Ryan Gresko will be playing percussion. Gresko teaches instrumental music and band at ESCC and New Brockton High School.

These performances are made possible by a grant from the Alabama State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts, and our faithful sponsors.