MUSIC THAT IS ROOTED IN NATURE.
“Her music melds a passion for the environment with knowledge of the folk traditions of America, Bali, and Japan to form a unique voice from the Pacific Northwest.”
- Oregon ArtsWatch
lyrical · compelling · synergistic · illuminative
Latest Release
Thrice Burned Forest
“It’s fantastic... With three pieces totaling over an hour, the album is great meditative-close-listening music, afternoon-in-the-backyard music, or cooking-a-fancy-dinner music…”
- Oregon ArtsWatch, Matthew Neil Andrews
“As a whole, Davening had the audience captivated and in a trance-like mood. It felt transportative.”
- Oregon ArtsWatch, Charles Rose
In an ancient Galician chapel, Deena Grossman joins Rodrigo Rodriguez for an improvised banjo and shakuhachi duet, creating a mesmerizing soundworld through this rare instrumental combination and unusual banjo tuning.
"I spent time walking, listening, observing… listening to the rhythms of the water, observing the light in the trees and the wildlife… Translating rhythms and shapes, and sounds of nature into something musical is an absolutely instantaneous and habitual mode for me. Ever since I was a child, I could look at a painting and I could hear melodies; it’s not synesthesia in the sense that I would see a color and I hear a major chord. I’m not exactly sure how to describe it, but the visual world and the world of movement has always been connected to what I hear musically."
— Deena Grossman, speaking in an interview on All Classical Radio
Press
“her compositional voice is rich and assured, direct and deep and meaningful as music.”
— Oregon ArtsWatch
“The effect of the musically-immersive experience was mesmerizing; all present were clearly enraptured by the sounds of wind instruments mingled with the resonance of the natural surroundings”
— East Portland News
“Grossman’s environmental music poignantly expresses the mission and values of Columbia Riverkeeper, where she is composer-in-residence.”
-Oregon ArtsWatch
"Portland composer Deena T. Grossman often writes music that sounds like rivers or forests, or mountains or the wind. A lot of her work reflects her deep experience in nature."
— All Classical Portland
