Chamber

Palindrome

Written for Transient Canvas

Premiered: June 22, 2021

Livestreamed from Pickman Hall.

5 min

A palindrome which starts with the marimba playing in their low register and the bass clarinet in their high register and ends with the same material with the marimba in the high register and the bass clarinet in the low register. The material from the beginning develops into a groove with a continuous 8th-note bass line passed around between the instruments an amongst their different registers.

Come Along

Written for Longy's Ensemble Uncaged

Premiered April 2021

Livestreamed from Pickman Hall.

Nicholas Schleyer, Abby Temple, Hollyn Slykhuis trumpets

3 min

Just Sit and Relax

for solo guitar

Written May 2020

The Toys We Played With

Premiered: May 1, 2019. Pickman Hall of Longy School of Music, Cambridge, MA

Nickolas Stavros flute

Kathryn DeLaMare cello

The Immortal

Written for the Mivos Quartet

Premiered: July 2017, Walden School of Music Creative Musicians Retreat at The Dublin School, Dublin, NH.

Duration: 4:56

The Writer

July 2016 SUNY Stony Brook Staller Center for the Arts, Stony Brook, NY.

Robert Cosgrove percussion

Evangeline Werger piano

Duration: 5:56

Imagine 3 individuals walking together as a unit. Then, one of them decides to veer off into something different. Another follows, and the third is trying to stick with the old way until they're finally convinced to follow through.

Written for a friend who was out of practice in guitar, and thus had difficulty moving her left hand. I wrote this piece so that the guitarist can keep their hand in one position for a whole section while the right hand does all the plucking. What resulted was a slow meditative piece one can just relax to.

Two movements, each depicting toys we played with as a kid.

A quartet that tells the story of an immortal and the struggles of living forever.

Inspired by the poem by Richard Wilber about a father observing his daughter as she anxiously types a story.

Sandpipers

Premiered: June 13, 2015 at the Middlebury Town Hall, Middlebury, NH.

Nave Graham flute

Eric Umble clarinet

Bram Margoles violin

Duration: 9:58

I walked along the coast of Lido Beach in Sarasota, Florida and found a flock of sandpipers, birds like sea gulls but taller and with longer beaks, feeding at the coast. Their movements and characters fascinated me. They ran away whenever a wave comes. Whenever they ate, they had a few bites at a time. The adult sandpipers walked with stiff movements while the baby birds scurried like mice. One sandpiper floated on the water surface and dipped its head like a duck. In this piece I described what I saw using small gestures for the birds and a highly timbral background for the water.

There’s Nothing to be Afraid of…

Premiered: June 2013 at Ferman University’s Daniel Recital Hall.

Ben Prima and Casey McLellan percussion

Thea Mesirow cello

Duration: 9:45

The original idea for this piece was to scare the audience. I took a survey asking people what they thought the scariest sound was. I had many responses to that question; high frequencies, anything unexpected, things falling, silence, people screaming, anything loud. I translated these sounds into this piece

To Unity

May 2013. Oberlin Conservatory’s Kulas Recital Hall.

Alex Baker cello

Alex Rossi tuba

Ben Stock piano

Duration: 5:55

Each of the instruments in this trio has its own distinct and unique sound, timbre, and quality. For example, the cello can play with vibrato, but the piano and tuba cannot. The piano has a percussive sound on each attack that the cello and tuba lack. The piece begins with each instrument presenting its own melody, each showing off its unique qualities. For the rest of the piece, these three melodies repeat again and again changing a bit each time until they develop together into a new melody that all three instruments play in unison. The instruments’ timbres also develop into a unique new sound.

Breaking Habits

December 19, 2012 Kulas Recital Hall, Oberlin Conservatory

Nathaniel Cornell violin

Annika Sundberg viola.

Later arranged for cello and clarinet

Duration: 5:46

Abnormal Day

Premiered: November 4 2012. Oberlin Conservatory’s Kulas Recital Hall.

Giovanni Bertoni clarinet

Duration: 2:53

Trio for Bassoon, Kalimba, and Bass Drum

July 10, 2012 Walden School Composers Forum, Dublin, NH.

Dana Jessen bassoon

David Meyers kalimba

Quinn Gutman bass drum

Duration: 1:39

7 Bagatelles

Premiered: July 27, 2011 Walden School of Music, Dublin, NH

Jessi Rosinski flute

Tierney O’Brien clarinet

Tawnya Popoff viola

Robert Burkhart cello

Steve Beck piano

Duration: 7:28

Monkey and Zookeeper

July 5, 2011 Walden School of Music, Dublin, NH

Joshua Clampitt flute

Tony Makarome electric bass

Duration: 1:13