Brittany J. Green
Composer · 1991– · American
A North Carolina composer whose orchestra piece Testify rings with tambourine and hymn
In short
Brittany J. Green, born in 1991, is a composer, performer and teacher based in North Carolina. Her orchestra piece Testify was commissioned by the League of American Orchestras and has been taken up by orchestras around the country since its 2024 premiere in Jacksonville. Her writing draws on family memory, church music and Black feminist thought.
What the music sounds like
Testify runs about eight minutes and is built from patterns of repeated rhythm in the American minimalist style, where short ideas loop and shift slowly. Its starting points are the tambourine playing of the composer's mother and the hymn I'm So Glad, so a tambourine keeps a joyful, bouncing pulse while the orchestra answers with shouts, dance steps and bright, layered sound. It is festive, direct and easy to follow on a first hearing.
Where to start
- Testify Her best-known orchestra piece, a short, rhythmic work built on a tambourine pulse and a hymn.
- Overture on Philippine Folk Songs An orchestral overture whose title says it is built on folk songs of the Philippines.
Written by OrchestraFinder, reviewed October 2026.