Testimonials
Gretta is deeply committed, incredibly thorough, and spectacularly inventive. The music Gretta created was beautiful and effective (many audience members said it was the best part of the show, and I'd tend to agree!), and she was an absolute joy to work with from the first meeting through the final dress rehearsal, to achieve our collective vision for the production. She's the best composer and musical director I've ever worked with; I'd swim oceans for the chance to work with her again. -Megan Sandberg-Zakian freelance Director; Resident Director, The Providence Black Repertory Company
Gretta's skill, ingenuity, and patience with process is only exceeded by her generosity of spirit and love of collaboration. She brings positive energy into the rehearsal room and coaxes strong musical performances out of the cast. -Robert G. Leigh, Director
I have worked for Gretta as a pianist on many projects. What impresses me about her is the way she can modify the music on the fly to fit any situation. When the director wants to add a musical interlude, she thinks about it, plunks out a few notes and voila, the director is thrilled. -Dave Hubbard, Composer/Videographer/Pianist
Gretta is always fun to work with, and very creative, with great musical ideas! -Rob Jones, Pianist
Productions as Composer, Musical Director and Vocal Coach:
January 2015- vocal coaching for Acrobat Conundrum, The Language of Chance. SANCA.
April 2014- Fuente Ovejuna. Directed by Andrew McGinn. Cornish College of the Arts. Composer, music director
Feb- March 2013 THESE STREETS, a rock music play at ACT, A Contemporary Theatre. Playwright, producer, music director, composer, performer.
February 2012- performance of the title song THESE STREETS at ACT Theatre for donor season opening reception, with (with Sarah Rudinoff)
April 2012- Romeo & Juliet for Cornish College's Shakespeare in the Park, advisor for student composer; music director
February-April 2011; Invasions of Nick Cave Soundsuits in collaboration with Seattle Art Museum and Cornish College of the Arts, co-directed with Wade Madsen. Director.
January 11 2011-1:11:11 (Desert Stories, "works in process"), Chapel Performance Space; solo generative work.
December 2010-Foreign Affairs, Cornish Senior Cabaret (musical director); Directed by Timothy McCuen Piggee
Summer 2010- Much Ado About Nothing, Seattle Shakespeare.Wooden O (Shakespeare in the Park); directed by Sheila Daniels. Composer and music director.)
October/November 2009- Abe Lincoln in Illinois, Intiman Theatre; directed by Sheila Daniels. Composer, music director.
April 2009- Good Person of Szechwan; directed by Megan Sandberg-Zakian; Broadway Performance Hall; Cornish College of the Arts. For more info click here
February-March 2009- Rubble Women; directed by Sheila Daniels; UMO Ensemble
November, 2008- Mary Zimmerman's Arabian Nights, directed by John Farrage, Raisbeck hall, Cornish College of the Arts. Composer, music director.
April 2008- The Tempest, directed by Kerry Skalsky, Shakespeare in the Park/Volunteer Park, Cornish College of the Arts. Composer, music director.
December 2008- Cornish Senior Cabaret (musical director); directed by Timothy McCuen Piggee
December 2007- Cornish Senior Cabaret (musical director); Directed by Timohty McCuen Piggee
October 2007-Pericles, directed by Sheila Daniels; Seattle Shakespeare Co.; Composer, music director.
November 2001- Foxes In Boxes Written and Directed by Gretta Harley. Seattle Fringe Festival, Oddfellows Hall.
April 2001- Foxes In Boxes, Written and Directed by Gretta Harley with poems commissioned by nine poets. Cornish College
April 2000- ...insomnia and other things that keep me up at night. Written and Directed by Gretta Harley. Cornish College
If you are a producer or director looking for a composer / music director / vocal coach / conductor, please contact me. I'd love to discuss your production.
I write for instrumentalists and vocalists as well as the non-musical actor, and performers at myriad levels of musicality. I often write for actors who perform the music themselves in live theater settings. In addition to understanding who it is I am working with, and meeting the desires of the director, I enjoy delving into the needs of the play through vast research. I write quickly. I am a collaborator, assisting the director in reaching his/her vision through music within the body of the play, pre-show, intermission and post-show. I also do some sound design. I take great care to find the music that supports the needed scene, the overall pallet and the directors' intended setting and vision. I always stay on or under budget and am successful at working with very small budgets. I am a certified Dalcroze instructor (a physical theoretical approach to music), so working with the actors in a physical setting is something that comes naturally to me.
©2015 Gretta Harley
