for solo percussion and stereo playback (2021). Duration: ca. 11.5 min. Commissioned Jeff Stern.

for solo piano (2018, rev. 2024). Duration: ca. 10.5 min. Commissioned by Brianna Matzke for The Response Project: Something Is Happening Here.

Program Note: Bluest Best Moon is a sort of musical anagram constructed from raw materials found in Bob Dylan’s “Tombstone Blues” (Highway 61 Revisited, 1965).

for alto saxophone and marimba (2019-2023). Duration: ca. 8.5 min. Commissioned by the Hutchens/Myers Duo.

Program Note: I’ve always been fascinated with musical togetherness. Coincidentally, when Andrew Hutchens and Daniel Myers contacted me about a potential commission for their ensemble, one of their requests was that the saxophone and marimba be on equal footing with one another—not a melody-accompaniment relationship. I decided to take their request rather literally. Unity—and the lack thereof—also has a particular resonance in contemporary society. I felt it worthwhile to attempt to build an artwork that reflects back on the listener notions of solidarity. Unity Synonym is dedicated, with thanks, to Andrew and Daniel.

for solo marimba (2022). Duration: ca. 5 min. Commissioned by Mark DeMull.

Version 1 (Original): quintet for electric guitar, electric bass, piano, vibraphone, percussion (2014). Duration: ca. 10 min. Stream Album.

Version 2: quartet for two percussionists and two pianists (2021). Duration: ca. 10 min. Commissioned by icarus Quartet. Stream Album.

Version 1 (Original): for two percussionists and two pianists (2016). Duration: ca. 9.5 min. Commissioned by icarus Quartet.

Version 2: for two percussionists and four-hands piano (2020). Duration: ca. 9.5 min. Commissioned by the University of Alabama Percussion Ensemble.

for percussion duo and stereo playback (2018). Duration: ca. 6 min.

Program Note: The first iteration of this piece was a two-minute miniature for solo percussion and stereo playback that I wrote when I was in grad school. It was my first piece for found-object percussion. During the previous summer, I had found a few large metal containers (vessels) at an antique shop in New Hampshire, and decided that I would build a piece around those sounds. One object was an old oilcan, another was a lobster pot...I can’t remember the others. I think I gravitated toward those sounds because of their imperfections. Vessel Redux takes this original miniature from my grad school days and adds an entirely different section, contrasting my musical interests from that time with my interests of today. This piece is dedicated with love and gratitude to Maria and Alex.

for solo soprano, SATB choir, and chamber ensemble: fl, cl, hn, tbn, perc, pno, 2 vln, vla, vc, cb (2015, rev. 2017). Duration: ca. 9 min. Commissioned by the Norfolk Chamber Choir and Choral Conducting Workshop.

I. But are not all Facts Dreams
II. A great Hope fell

Program Note: Over the course of her life, Emily Dickinson captured fragments of poetry and other fleeting thoughts by writing on reused scraps of paper. Many of these scraps were envelopes that had at one time contained letters to her—on some, we can even see the old stamps and addresses. Years after Dickinson’s death, the envelopes were discovered and compiled into a collection known as the Envelope Writings. The thing that drew me to these brief and mysterious texts is that there is no correct way to interpret—or even read—them. Some of the writings are presented at opposing angles on a single envelope; others contain scratched-out words. Without a definitive context, the meaning of a given writing is allowed to become fluid, adapting itself to shifting conditions in each reader’s life. When I received this commission from the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival in Norfolk, Connecticut, located only about an hour away from Amherst, Massachusetts where Dickinson had lived her life, I thought that setting a few of my favorite Envelope Writings might be a fitting tribute.

solo for Clavinet, synthesizer, and stereo playback (2014, rev. 2016). Duration: ca. 7 min. Stream Album.

for four-hands piano (2016). Duration: ca. 7 min. Commissioned by HOCKET.

for solo double bass (2016). Duration: ca. 7 min. Commissioned by Sam Suggs.

for stereo playback (2016). Stream Album.

for percussion quartet (2015). Duration: ca. 8 min. Commissioned by the Yale Percussion Group.

Program Note: A single line runs through most of the piece, and virtually all the musical material is derived from it. This meta-line, performed by Percussion 1, serves as the “spine” of the music, both in structural terms (backbone), but also with respect to the line’s perceived control over the direction and progression of the music (central nervous system). The material played by the supporting members of the quartet colors and punctuates this main line. Over the course of the work, players drift in and out of agreement with one another, and occasionally the primary line loses its unique identity within the texture of the ensemble. I tried to impart an almost biological sense to the way motives grow, attempting to balance intuitive, almost improvisatory, types of development with more structured patterns and processes. Spine is dedicated to the players of the Yale Percussion Group for their unwavering support.

for percussion quartet (2015). Duration: ca. 4.5 min.

for orchestra: 3-3-3-3, 4-3-2-1, timp, 3 perc, pno, harp, e bass, strings (2014). Duration: ca. 9 min.

for prepared steel-string acoustic guitar and stereo playback (2012). Duration: ca. 4 min. Stream Album.

for soprano and piano (2012). Duration: ca. 4 min.

Program Note: The text used in this piece has been excerpted from the first of a group of personal letters that Emily Dickinson wrote to a man to whom she referred only as “Master.” Known as the Master Letters, they were discovered after Dickinson’s death in a lockbox along with a large collection of unpublished poems. There is no evidence that the letters were ever mailed, and it is has been speculated that they were part of a larger, unknown correspondence.

for solo piano (2011). Duration: ca. 5 min.