Contemporary Art Music

Written for the 2022 São Paulo Contemporary Composers Festival. This piece for alto sax, bass clarinet, and electric guitar is a reimagining of the biblical story of Noah and the Great Flood. It was premiered on August 7th by Rafael Schmidt (bass clarinet), Douglas Braga (saxophone), and Camilo Carrara (guitar).

This work for percussion duo and narrator sets Kate Seymour-Maclean’s poem A Baby’s Death to music. The aim of this piece is to convey the complex emotions that are felt in situations ranging from miscarriage to still-birth to untimely childhood death.

This short piece for solo piano follows a broken sonata. It’s themes are simple, and often move to different key centers before finally returning to the original key and theme at the end.

Inspired by the artwork and practices of Molly Zuckerman-Hartung, i uses dialogue from her piece The 95 These’s on Painting presented over a mass of found sounds. The chosen sounds represent themes and ideas found in her work, such as representations of the human spine and rib cage, her punk rock aesthetic, and the sounds of paint and painting.

This short piece for trombone quartet was written to represent my own personal experiences as a trombonist in high school. From marching band and stand tunes to symphonic band and chamber music; inspiration came from a wide array of places. It is dedicated to three of my most influential band directors, Von Silverberg, Terri Clemons (Risinger), and Gabriel Musella. The work is about four minutes long.

This work was commissioned by Kingwood Park High School for their Chamber Orchestra to perform in the Spring of 2022. The piece aims to represent the journey one experiences while trying to achieve a good comfortable life, also know as eudaimonia. It runs for about 4 minutes.

This work sets out to prove that tonality is not necessary for a piece to feel fun and motivic. Razzmatazz is another term for razzle-dazzle. As the plural version of the word consists of twelve letters it was the base for a twelve-tone row that the theme was built upon. The piece showcases the clarinet alongside the vibraphone in a flamboyant, flashy display. The work is about six and a half minutes.

This short piece for piano explores textures from different musical eras. It features a simple theme that blossoms into something incredibly complex. The piece gives the performer immense expressive freedom, and offers plenty of room for dramatic interpretation. The work is about 3 minutes long.

This work is for solo cello and features 5 miniatures that each represent a basic human emotion: Joy, Fear, Mourning, Surprise, & Anger. This piece allows the cellist to be very expressive while still offering a bit of a challenge. It is about six and a half minutes long.

This is a contemporary work for solo trombone. This piece was designed to explore extended techniques and sounds that the trombone can display. The piece is roughly six minutes long.

This piece is for solo tenor saxophone. It aims to encapsulate the turbulent and chaotic feel of a society shut down by disease. This piece explores several extended techniques and offers quite a challenge to the performer. It is about 6 minutes in length.

This three-movement work for brass quintet offers a challenge for each player. The piece is a study in character development and is meant to show the journey a hero takes. The three movements, A Hero Awakens, The Battle Ensues, & The Journey Ends, reflect this. The piece is about 9 minutes in length.