Master of Arts - Graduation Portfolio
The following collection of works were composed during my residency at Rutgers. They are arranged in reverse-chronological order, with the most recent or in-progress pieces at the top. All scores are available for download as PDFs, or you can right-click and open the file in a new tab for browser-viewing. Thank you for your time and consideration in reviewing my portfolio.
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And as he sang (2015 - present)
Flute, Alto Saxophone, and Piano And as he sang is a work commissioned by The Harlow Trio. It is currently being workshopped, but this is the current incarnation. |
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Listen (2016)
Harp Upcoming Premier by Joseph Pagani (harp) Taking cues from Benjamin Bagby’s performance-based interpretation of Beowulf, as well as from contemporary folk and rock idioms, Listen! was written with the bardic tradition in mind. Not only a call to attend; this piece enacts in miniature the telling of dark and stormy tales. Listen was composed as part of the Listen Up! composer-performer pairings project. |
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There was a goat's head (2016)
Violin Upcoming Premier by Thomas Purcel (violin) Drawing from the sound-worlds of both Arthur Honegger and Margaret Barry, There was a goat’s head is a nod to the surreal ordinariness of the poetry of Brigit Pegeen Kelly. The sweetness of the monstrous, and the persistence of bad ideas, are both characters negotiating their space within the piece. There was a goat's head was composed as part of the Listen Up! composer-performer pairings project. |
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New Thing (2015)
Fixed Electronics Premiered by and in collaboration with Dancer/Choreographer Nicole Cameli at the Rutgers BFA Senior Solo Duet Concert New Thing was written in collaboration with dancer/choreographer Nicole Cameli. It explores shifting ideas of ownership and self-identification, while eliciting a reticence to grasp onto any particular idea. Performance History: Premier: November 5, 2015 BFA Senior/Solo 2nd evening: November 7, 2015 |
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To the Roaring Wind (2015)
Flute & Live Electronics Premiered by Louise Fristensky (flute) at the NJDAC- Rutgers Digital Audio Concert To the Roaring Wind is an exploration of both the sonic landscape and textual content of Wallace Stevens' poem of the same name. The searching for meaning in communication, the commonality of that search, and the drowning of the implied-speaker's voice in the din of empathy and environment, all guided the development of this composition. Finally, the denial of direct agency on behalf of the implied speaker through the invocation of sleep, and the insistent command from the narrator-listener, underscores the conflict's omnipresent nature, as intrinsic to both the internal and external world of speaker and listener alike. In this fashion, both speaker and listener are attempting to move through the text to understanding, but through their individual moments are never quite reaching a common idea. Performance History: Premier: October 25, 2015 |
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The Ravening Clouds: Don't kill us, cumulonimbus! (2015)
Percussion Trio The Ravening Clouds: Don’t kill us, cumulonimbus! is an exploration in the textural imposition of a particular storm cloud. Shifts in patterns, false starts and endings, and repetitions pull in the uncertainty of an impending or active storm. |
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Mikroetudes: (2015)
Juxtaposed Weather And so Listen Quickie BitKlavier: Prepared Digital Piano Written in participation as one of 14 composers in the Mikroetudes project for the testing and release of Dan Trueman's bitKlavier software instrument |
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The head called to the body (2014 - 2015)
Glass Armonica, Mixed Percussion Premiered by Chui Ling Tan (glass armonica, percussion) and Greg Riss (percussion) The head called to the body is a chamber work for glass armonica and mixed percussion using the narrative arc of Brigit Pegeen Kelly’s “Song” as a starting point for the piece’s organizational structure. The title of the piece is a line lifted from Kelly’s poem. The ideas of song and voice permeated the composition of this piece; vacillating between the classical sound of the armonica and what new sounds could be gathered in partnering the armonica with percussion instruments. Performance History: Premier: May 3, 2015 Expressive Engines Concert: February 15, 2016 |
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I Am Not Yours: Sara Teasdale (2014 - 2015)
Pierrot Ensemble, Soprano Premiered by The Nouveau Classical Project and soprano Pamela Stein I Am Not Yours is a poem by American poet Sara Teasdale (1884 - 1933) published in 1917 in her Pulitzer Prize-winning collection Love Songs. This setting of Teasdale's text is an exploration in word painting, the textural context of the poem, and a reflection of my understanding of the poem. The contrasting progression of the poem's narrative from declarative resistance in the opening line to uneasy and then relinquishing capitulation allowed for the compositional structure to also reflect that shift, while exploring the text's tonal duality in the inner sections. I chose to use microtones in the Soprano to reflect the uncertainty and nervous movement of the text, while also creating a lush atmosphere for the delivery of the text. Performance History: Premier: October 18, 2014 Helix! Fall Concert: November 20, 2015 Helix! at LPR: May 1, 2016 |
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In a neon valley (2014)
Flute, Fixed Electronics Premiered on the Computer Composition End-of-Term Concert In a neon valley was created using four samples of flute key-clicks and one sample of flute bisbigliando. The samples were treated with delay designer, space designer, pedal board, and destructive editing such as reverse and inversion. The goal of this piece was to make an instrument of sorts out of the electronic material that could play with the live flutist and blend in timbre while maintaining it’s instrumental autonomy. Although there are no interactive elements technically included in the piece, In a neon valley we composed to feel as though the flutist and the electronics were interacting during performance. Performance History: Premier: December 15, 2014 |
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