Composer
All My Thoughts are the Same started as four miniatures for solo cello. As I worked on these miniatures, I started to notice certain similarities and connections between the material in each one. For fun, I started to weave back and forth through these short fragments and much to my surprise, it worked. And somehow …
Composed for the Central Michigan University New Music Ensemble, both movements are typical of my current compositional output. Harmonies are based on the repetition of a simple interval pattern and long lyrical melodies weave their way through these chaconnes. The rhythms and colors are rather plain, unadorned, and far from ornate. The directness and simplicity …
In late 2012, I challenged myself to write a new vocal composition each week. I dubbed the project “Lied Time” and while I tried my best, I only managed to complete a handful of compositions. This short work was the first: a bawdy limerick. It isn’t very polite; consider yourself warned! Download the score: Limerick
In the summer of 2004, I was fortunate to be accepted to the Composers Conference at Wellesley College. Mario Davidovsky, the main composer entity during those two weeks, was celebrating his 70th birthday that year. All of the composer fellows decided, quite at the last minute, to each write a variation on “Happy Birthday” and surprise Mario with performances of …
Most of my compositions come from some speci?c form of non-musical inspiration and are therefore easy to title. Sometimes, though, I write a work which is devoid of extramusical inspiration. [untitled] is an abstract piece that explores different instrumental colors in a slow and organic manner. Performed by the pLAy ensemble. Download the score: [untitled]
The mood of the piece is quiet and contemplative which is in stark contrast to the heavy and aggressive work I started composing for this instrumentation. I’ve been finding lately that my music is tending towards soft, slow, and spare sounds instead of raucous cacophony. The title comes from the most unusual line in the children’s book …
I am writing this piece for the 60/60 call for scores being put out by New Music Hartford on August 2, 2009. The idea behind the call is similar to that of the TV show Iron Chef – composers are given one hour to create a composition. It is noon right now and the contest begins in …
This piece grew from a shorter work for ?ute and cello composed in the summer of 2009 and titled Oblique Variations. When writing the original piece, I drew my inspiration from the deck of “Oblique Strategies” created by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt. When asked to extend the work, and add an electronic component, I …
When I decided to write a duet for two cellos, I found inspiration in pop music from the 1980s. The bass line used in this work comes from the Eurythmic’s classic “Sweet Dreams (are made of this),” the video for which is notorious for its pantomime cello playing of the iconic synth solo. Download the …
Slumber Music was not what I intended to write. When I sat down to compose the first movement, I had planned to take a melody and distort it, break it, and disrupt it. However, once the melody started to play out, I couldn’t bear to harm it. Instead of twist and mangle the melody, I …