Composer
In early 2017 I was experiencing some of the worst burnout I’ve ever had. Stress from all sides of my life was my only companion. I could only focus on what I needed to do an hour at a time, a minute at a time, a moment at a time. I was struggling with just …
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 …
These three short pieces were composed for the Duo Fujin One-Day Composition Challenge in 2011. The “secret ingredient,” made public only 12 hours before the deadline, was the word “REMIX.” Not being much of a remixer, I struggled to ?nd a foothold in composing the piece. I started by making anagrams of the phrase “Duo …
I started off writing a different piece. I was trying to write a quirky and fast polyrhythmic thing for solo marimba. It was terrible; it didn’t sound like me. I started again found this piece hiding inside. It is the right piece; it is the real me. Composed for Laura Jordan and Sarah Carrier’s “Fifteen Minutes …
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 …
This short duet was composed for the “Fifteen Minutes of Fame” opportunity that Zentripetal offered in February of 2011. When I began writing this piece, it was something different. As I was putting the finishing touches on that earlier version of the score, a “what if I…” hit me out of the blue. I cut …
Throb is an improvisational piece inspired by the complex rhythmic figures which can emerge from simple steady pulses. The players are given a basic framework of how to perform the piece, sometimes coordinating with each other but, for the most part, they are off in their own rhythmic worlds. While the players are often uncoordinated …