I'm not connected to anything · 2018 · five minutes · for solo flute
Winner of the National Flute Association Newly Published Music Competition 2019 in the Solo Flute category
This work is published by ALRY Publications. Click here to see and hear the piece.
Winner of 1st place in the National Flute Association Newly Published Music Competition 2019 in the Solo Flute category, I’m Not Connected to Anything is a piece for solo flute that uses snaky chromatic melodies to evoke a sense of melancholy and loss. Changes in vibrato and tone color are used to create a haunting atmosphere. The music begins by invoking the feeling of disconnectedness that can accompany sadness and loss—in particular the robotic and mechanical nature that sorrow can produce. The piece is not without hope: in the middle of the song there is a section where the melody becomes more animated and lively, eventually changing to sound like a slowly accelerating music box. Finally, the piece then ends similarly to how it began.
Meditation on "Come thou fount" · 2008 · five minutes · for solo organ
This work is published by Periferia Publishing in Barcelona. Click here to see and hear the piece.
Written for Linton Powell of St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Arlington, Texas, this piece is a meditation on the underlying feelings and emotions in the hymn Come thou fount of every blessing, rather than an alternative setting for the hymn-melody itself (as is often done).
At the Round Earth's Imagined Corners · 2019 · three and a half minutes · for mixed a cappella choir
This work is published by Periferia Publishing. Click here to see and hear the piece.
At the Round Earth's Imagined Corners: An Anthem for All Saints is a brisk piece for a cappella choir that sets John Donne's Holy Sonnet Number Seven for unaccompanied choir as an anthem for All Saints Sunday. The poem is very colorful and deals with life and death as only John Donne can.
Hear Us · 2014 · five minutes · for mixed choir and organ
This work is published by Periferia Publishing. Click here to see the score and hear the piece.
Hear Us is an introspective piece that uses poem XXIII from John Donne's Litany. One of the most beloved English poets of the late 16th and early 17th centuries, Donne's poem is both repentant and thought-provoking and is particularly well-suited for a musical setting.
A Hymn of St. Ephrem · 2010 · five minutes · for mixed choir and Organ
This work is published by Periferia Publishing. Click here to see and hear the piece.
A Hymn of St. Ephrem: An Anthem for the Baptism of Christ sets the poetry of St. Ephrem the Syrian (306 A.D. - 373) and uses text from his Fifteen Hymns for the Feast of the Epiphany. Ephrem's poetry sets a dialogue with Jesus and John while creating a scene for the baptism of Jesus. The text contains both vivid imagery and visceral energy, making it ideal for a musical setting.
Possibly for wind Ensemble · 2019 · Five minutes · for Wind Ensemble
This work is published Murphy Music Press. Click here to see the score and hear the piece.
Possibly for Wind Ensemble is a straightforward, five-minute arrangement (and rewrite) of my orchestra piece from 2005. Like the original work, it draws from the excitement and exuberance of the many seeming life-possibilities presented to us in our youth. After a short introduction, the main three-note motive appears in the piano and bass winds. The motive originates from a song that I wrote when I was nineteen and played in a rock band in Ventura, California. I have altered the motive to fit the idiom of a wind ensemble but it is essentially the same as it was in 1997, and it proves to be the backbone of the entire piece.
Possibly · 2005 · five minutes · for orchestra
Jointly commissioned by the Saint Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Youth Orchestra, and the Vermont Youth Orchestra.
Possibly is a straightforward, five-minute piece for full orchestra that draws from the excitement and exuberance of the many seeming life-possibilities presented to us in our youth. After a short introduction, the main three-note motive appears in the cellos and basses. The motive originates from a song that I wrote when I was nineteen and played in a rock band in Ventura, California. I have altered the motive to fit the idiom of an orchestra but it is essentially the same as it was in 1997, and it proves to be the backbone of the entire piece.
Three Love Songs · 2001 · ten minutes · for small orchestra and soprano
I stumbled upon the letters of F. Scott Fitzgerald as an undergraduate at California State University, Chico. They were so beautiful that I immediately began to set them, at first for soprano and piano, and later for soprano and orchestra. After graduating I continued writing the piece while working as the Recording Engineer Fellow at the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, Florida and was lucky enough to have the musicians of the New World Symphony perform the piece along with soprano Esther Jane Hardenbergh. The piece seeks to provide a musical atmosphere in which the listener can experience the ultimately heart-breaking letters and poems of the Fitzgeralds.
String Quartet · 2008 · four movements · twenty-four minutes
Commissioned by the City Church of San Francisco in honor of its tenth anniversary, String Quartet is a piece about darkness and hope. The piece uses long slow glissandos to evoke a sense of unease.
Violin Sonata · 2003 · three movements ·Sixteen minutes
Violin Sonata: Once upon a time ... is inspired by a short book (or a long essay) by J. R. R. Tolkein entitled On Faërie Stories in which he explains in detail what he believes constitutes a proper Faërie story. However, rather than musically narrating a specific story, Violin Sonata focuses on the characteristics of a typical Faërie story protagonist, and draws inspiration from a particular moment or feeling that the protagonist would have experienced or felt. In the first movement the music uses two moments: the peace before the journey imposes itself on the protagonist, and the fear that ensues after the journey begins. The second movement is a simple little piece inspired by the complex battle between despair and hope—not seeing the light, but hoping it will be there, even though only darkness is felt. The third goes on to evoke the pleasure of what Tolkein calls the Eucatastrophy, or inevitable happy ending in the midst of complete hopelessness.