SOLO & FIXED MEDIA

Homage to Jon Larsen (2023)

INSTRUMENTATION Fixed media (solo guitar processed through granular synthesis)

DURATION 5’10”

ABOUT Homage to Jon Larsen is a fixed media piece featuring microtonal guitar processed via granular synthesis. It is dedicated to Jon Larsen (b. 1959), a Norwegian jazz guitarist and amateur scientist who has conducted groundbreaking research in the field of micrometeorology through his discovery, documentation, and examination of micrometeorite samples in urban environments. When micrometeoroids enter the earth’s atmosphere, their rocky surface is partially melted away to reveal unique, gem- or glass-like crystal cores. In Homage to Jon Larsen, I seek to evoke the imagined perspective of a micrometeorite as it floats through deep space, gets pulled into earth’s orbit, and passes through earth’s atmosphere.


Aries (2022)

Commissioned by Nic Gerpe for the Makrokosmos 50 Project

 

INSTRUMENTATION piano

DURATION 3 minutes

PREMIERE Nic Gerpe, Center for New Music, San Francisco, CA, 12 March 2022

ABOUT Aries is a constellation that in Hellenic astrology represents the winged, golden-fleeced ram of Greek mythology. As the first sign of the zodiac, Aries is also associated with the vernal equinox, a time that marks the beginning of Spring in the Northern Hemisphere.

The ram first appears in the tale of Phrixus and Helle, the twin children of king Athamas and the goddess Nephele. When Athamas takes the mortal Ino as his second wife, Phrixus and Helle become the object of their stepmother’s jealousy and hatred. Ino plots to kill the twins, but before she can realize her devious plan, Nephele summons the ram to whisk them away to Colchis (modern-day Georgia). The ram flies the twins over the Mediterranean Sea, but before they reach land, Helle looks down and, dizzied by the sight below, slips off the ram and falls to her death. When Phrixus finally arrives safely in Colchis, he sacrifices the ram to Zeus, who places it in the night sky, creating the constellation Aries. Phrixus is welcomed by the local king, Aeetes. To thank Aeetes for his hospitality, Phrixus gifts the king with the ram’s golden fleece, which Aeetes hangs from a tree guarded by a never-sleeping dragon. This tale is the backstory of the more widely known myth of Jason and the Argonauts, who embark on a quest to claim the prized fleece as their own.

Some scholars believe that the myth of the Golden Fleece was inspired by an early mining technique that was popular in the Caucasus region and likely known to Ancient Greeks whereby sheep fleeces were stretched over a wooden frame and submerged in a stream that held gold deposits. The fleeces would catch flecks of gold that were later combed out after the fleeces had been hung from trees to dry.

These mythological, astrological, and historical associations were on my mind as I composed Aries, commissioned by Nic Gerpe for the Makrokosmos50 Project. Sparkly and twinkly playing in the piano’s upper register evoke the sheen of the ram’s golden fleece and the starry quality of its celestial reincarnation. Watery textures – sometimes gentle and at other times more forceful, rising from the depths of the piano’s lower register – evoke the Mediterranean Sea and the streams used in placer mining. Lyrical, melancholic passages invite reflection on the more tragic elements of Phrixus and Helle’s tale, while moments of triumph allude to the feelings of rebirth so often associated with the Spring season that is rung in by the vernal equinox.


Holding (2020)

Composed for the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music #GLFCAMGigThruCOVID initiative

INSTRUMENTATION alto saxophone

DURATION 1 minute

VIRTUAL PREMIERE Immanuel Wilkins, #GLFCAMGigThruCOVID, 1 October 2020


Four Miniatures (2016)

Commissioned by Katherine von Bernthal

 

INSTRUMENTATION alto saxophone

DURATION 10 minutes

PREMIERE Katherine von Bernthal, Ann Arbor, MI; 10 April 2016


VOCAL & CHAMBER

“The Linen Spells” (2022)

Commissioned by Prima Voce Emerging Artists for Joel Balzun and Brent McMunn

 

INSTRUMENTATION baritone voice and piano

DURATION 5-6 minutes

PREMIERE Joel Balzun (baritone) and Brent McMunn (piano); Pasadena, CA; 11 October 2022

ABOUT “The Linen Spells” draws inspiration from the Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead, a funerary text that was written on various surfaces throughout its history: pyramid walls, coffins, papyrus scrolls, and directly onto the linen cloth that wrapped the mummified dead. The lyrics of this song – a poem of the same title by Sara Fetherolf – reference and reimagine spells written on the mummy bandages of Hepmeneh, an overseer of royal ointments during the Ptolemaic period. The Ancient Egyptians believed that the dead’s journey to the afterlife was long, labyrinthine, and perilous. The dead were consequently buried with spells that would help them navigate the afterlife and safely reach the paradisical Field of Reeds. In this regard, the Book of the Dead was critical to Ancient Egyptians’ practice of honoring their departed loved ones and their gods.


“Winter Sister” (2022)

Commissioned by the National Association of Teachers of Singing and Cincinnati Song Initiative, with major support from Lori Laitman

 

INSTRUMENTATION soprano voice and piano

DURATION 7 minutes

DIGITAL PREMIERE Ann Toomey (soprano) and Samuel Martin (piano); Cincinnati, OH; 26 June 2022

ABOUT Poet Catherine Pond, a dear colleague of mine, dedicated “Winter Sister” to her friend Julia Anna Morrison, whose brother died when they were teenagers. In her collection of short poems Catherine remembers this painful period of her life, pays tribute to her friendship with Julia, and recalls the other forces to which she turned for guidance through her grief (e.g. her mother, her writing). I hope that my musical setting of Catherine’s poetry resonates with everyone who has experienced loss during this difficult time in which we find ourselves; that these songs – and Catherine’s words – make you feel less alone in your pain; and that they remind you of the relationships that you hold close to your heart.


Talk It Out (2019)

Composed for ThreeForm

 

INSTRUMENTATION alto saxophone, piano, and drum set

DURATION 8 minutes

PREMIERE ThreeForm (Robert Young, M. Maxwell Howard, and Timothy Sullivan); Winston-Salem, NC; 21 January 2020

ABOUT Talk It Out draws inspiration from the dynamic and conversational quality of jazz combo performances. Musical dialogues permeate the work, alternating between moments of hostility, tenderness, and playfulness. These qualities are evoked musically through fickle grooves and metric modulation, improvisatory lyricism, and cushiony impressionist textures. While Talk It Out is fully notated, it is intended to sound spontaneous, especially with regards to its form (how sections morph into each other) and the way in which individual instruments step in and out of the lime light to interject solos of their own.


Phosphenes (2019/2020)

Commissioned by Russell Kerns

Recorded by Sly Pup Productions

INSTRUMENTATION soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, and piano

DURATION 8.5 minutes

PREMIERE Walt Puyear (soprano saxophone), Jeremy Howell (alto saxophone), and Mahour Arbabian (piano); Ann Arbor, MI; 31 January 2021

ABOUT A phosphene is a visual illusion. Common examples of phosphenes include “seeing stars,” the nebulous shapes that we perceive when we rub our eyes, or the imprint of a radiant image that remains in our field of vision even after we divert our gaze or close our eyes. These illusions are at once alluring and unsettling, and it is this mysterious mirage-like quality that I wish to evoke in Phosphenes through jazz-tinged harmonies; improvisatory lyricism embellished with erratic, twisting ornamental figures; and an overarching feeling of suspension and reverie.


The Séance (2019)

Composed for New Opera West

 

INSTRUMENTATION five singers and piano

LIBRETTO Sara Fetherolf

DURATION 14 minutes

PREMIERE Graycen Gardner & Vincentia Geraldine, sopranos; Gloria Palermo, mezzo-soprano; Fatu Su’esu’e, tenor; Kyle Chase, baritone; Timothy Peterson, piano; Los Angeles, CA; 29 March 2019

ABOUT At a dinner party in the early 20th century, Mr. More, a businessman with a scientific interest in the afterlife, invites his sister and her new husband to take part in a ritual to call on the dead. What begins as a form of after-dinner entertainment takes a turn for the uncanny when the spirits of the dead respond in unexpected and disturbing ways. Set in an era when Spiritualism was in vogue and the wealthy enjoyed experimentation with the occult, The Séance explores the following questions: what would it mean if we viewed death as something that concerns more than humans in the present, especially our loved ones? What if we considered the deaths of strangers from the distant past and honored death as a phenomenon that affects the natural world as well, especially due to human activity? How might we change if we thought of our inheritance as broader than our immediate family tree?


Flirt (2018)

Commissioned by Isabel Gleicher

 

INSTRUMENTATION flute and piano

DURATION 5.5 minutes

PREMIERE Emma McCartney, flute; Timothy Peterson, piano; Los Angeles, CA; 7 April 2019

ABOUT Flirt (2018) stages a fickle relationship between flute and piano; one filled with playful gibes, dancing, and ultimately an intense feeling of comfort and wonderment.


Shorelines (2018)

Composed for Duo Cortona as part of the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music

 

INSTRUMENTATION mezzo-soprano and violin

TEXT Catherine Pond

DURATION 9 minutes

PREMIERE Duo Cortona (Rachel Calloway, mezzo-soprano; Ari Streisfeld, violin), Columbia, SC; 7 December 2018

ABOUT Shorelines is a song cycle featuring four poems by Catherine Pond that address the theme of witnessing and grappling with someone else’s grief and suffering.


Coil / Broken Currents (2018)

Composed for the USC Visions and Voices initiative’s Caught in the Chamber: A Music and Dance Concert-in-Process with yMusic

 

INSTRUMENTATION flute, clarinet, trumpet, violin, viola, and violoncello

CHOREOGRAPHY Trevor Daw & Alyssa Allen

DURATION 7 minutes

PREMIERE yMusic, Los Angeles, CA; 4 April 2018

ABOUT Coil, premiered under the title Broken Currents, features a twisting, fickle character; spring-like energy; and loosely cyclical form. Coil was composed for yMusic as part of the University of Southern California’s Visions and Voices Initiative. The creation of this work was a collaborative effort between the composer and choreographers Trevor Daw and Alyssa Allen, who danced in the work’s premiere.


Harp My Bones (2018)

 

INSTRUMENTATION soprano and piano

TEXT Sara Fetherolf

DURATION 10 minutes

PREMIERE Kaileigh Riess, soprano; Timothy Peterson, piano; Los Angeles, CA; 3 May 2018

ABOUT Harp My Bones is a song cycle featuring three poems by Sara Fetherolf that draw inspiration from the Greek myth of Philomela and the Northumbrian murder ballad, “The Two Sisters.” These tales share several themes, including sisterhood, trauma, testimony, and transformation. Please find summaries of both texts below:

Philomela. Pandion, king of Athens, gives his daughter, Procne, to Tereus, king of Thrace, in marriage to forge an alliance with Tereus after he defeats a barbarian army that threatened Athens. Five years later, Procne sends Tereus to Athens to fetch her sister, Philomela, whom she misses dearly. Tereus does so, but when he and Philomela return to Thrace, he kidnaps and rapes her in a forest. After Philomela threatens to tell of his brutal act, Tereus cuts out her tongue and imprisons her in a cabin. Speechless, Philomela weaves her story into a tapestry that she has sent to her sister, who comes to her rescue. Together, the sisters plot their revenge. They kill the king’s son, cook his mutilated body, and serve it – along with the boy’s severed head – to Tereus at a feast. Before the king can capture the sisters, they transform into birds – Philomela, a nightingale; Procne, a swallow – and fly away.

The Two Sisters. Two sisters go down to a river. The older sister, plagued by jealousy after a suitor denies her affection in favor of her younger sister, drowns her sibling. Later, when a bard finds the younger sister’s corpse washed ashore, he fashions a harp out of her remains; her bones serve as the instrument’s frame and her hair as its strings. When the older sister marries her murdered sibling’s suitor, the same bard performs at their wedding; the murderess is publicly revealed when the harp plays itself and sings the tale of the two sisters.


Ash-Blue / Valentine (2018)

 

INSTRUMENTATION mezzo-soprano and piano

TEXT Catherine Pond

DURATION 1 minute

PREMIERE Gloria Palermo, mezzo-soprano; Timothy Peterson, piano; Los Angeles, CA; 4 March 2018


Poem (2018)

 

INSTRUMENTATION violin and guitar

DURATION 3 minutes

READING Lina Bahn, violin; Mak Grgic, guitar; Los Angeles, CA; 15 February 2018

PREMIERE Tiffany Chung, violin; Tomasz Fechner, guitar; Los Angeles, CA; 7 April 2018

ABOUT Composed for violinist Lina Bahn and guitarist Mak Grgic, Poem – my first foray into writing for classical guitar – features a funky groove bookended by two lullabies.


Serpentine (2018)

Commissioned by Kynetik Quartet and Novus New Music, Inc.

 

INSTRUMENTATION saxophone quartet (SATB)

DURATION 2.5 minutes

PREMIERE Kynetik Quartet; Cincinnati, OH; 8-10 March 2018

ABOUT Intended as an encore piece, this capricious work features twisting and turning melodies that slither and jump in a capricious, jazz-tinged style.


Garlic (2017)

 

INSTRUMENTATION saxophone quartet (SATB) and drum set

DURATION 5 minutes

PREMIERE Adamas Saxophone Quartet and David Alvarez III, drum set; Ann Arbor, MI; 12 May 2017

ABOUT For this title, I thank the drummer who co-premiered this piece, David Alvarez III. After laying down a particularly groovy groove in rehearsal – masterfully embellishing the notated part that I had composed for him – he commented, “I added some garlic.” Garlic is pungent and delicious. When added to countless mixtures of ingredients, it inevitably brings the funk to your taste buds. Garlic pays homage to many of the non-classical musical traditions that I love, including funk and jazz, especially Duke Ellington’s lush harmonies and driving rhythmic energy that never fail to leave me feeling warm inside. The theme and opening section feature pitches derived from a Carnatic (South Indian) raga that was introduced to me during my musical studies in Mysore; it is similar to the Blues scale.


String Trio No. 1 (2017)

 

INSTRUMENTATION violin, viola, and violoncello

DURATION 5 minutes

PREMIERE Adam Millstein, violin; Zoie Hightower, viola; Jin Nakamura, violoncello; Ann Arbor, MI; 15 March 2017

ABOUT In the summer of 2016, I studied classical Arabic music under Mohamed El Harzli at the Conservatoire d’Art et de Musique in Tangier, Morocco. My studies were largely motivated by my fascination with quarter-tones, melodic intervals that are absent from the Western tuning system but integral to Arabic music. To unfamiliar ears, these intervals may initially sound odd. I find, however, that they carry a unique expressive power – a way of tugging at your heartstrings – that I have never heard or felt before. The melodies throughout the middle section of this piece feature quarter-tones of the rast, bayati, and saba tetrachords. The middle section also draws inspiration from the pensive, rhythmically free quality of taqasim improvisations; the call-and-response musical dialogue heard in firqa (Arabic orchestra) overtures; and the dance-like energy of Moroccan chaâbi folk music. I would like to thank Mohamed El Harzli for his kind mentorship and the University of Michigan Islamic Studies and Honors Programs for their generous support of my studies in Morocco.


Duet for Cello and Harpsichord (2016)

 

DURATION 2.5 minutes

PREMIERE Julia Knowles, violoncello; Phoebe Wu, harpsichord; Ann Arbor, MI; 15 March 2016

ABOUT Duet for Cello and Harpsichord (2016) draws partial inspiration from Afro-Cuban batá drumming, which I studied under Octavio Rodríguez Rivera in Havana in the summer of 2015. Throughout the piece, the cello and harpsichord – and often the harpsichordist’s own two hands – engage one another in syncopated conversations. New sections and musical ideas are introduced by short rhythmic figures akin to llamadas, the calls (or cues) that batá drummers use to signal musical changes. The closing section draws inspiration from batá compositions dedicated to Yemayá (Yoruba goddess of the sea), which start slow and gradually increase in tempo to reach a crazed ending, evoking the waters that Yemayá makes calm or violent at will.


Duet for Body Percussion (2015)

 

DURATION 4 minutes

PREMIERE Adam Lion and Jacob Gutierrez, body percussion; Princeton, NJ; 27 July 2015

ABOUT Duet for Body Percussion (2015), which features an original notational system, was premiered at the 2015 Sō Percussion Summer Institute. Asked to compose a work that could be performed in the close quarters of a coffee shop, I decided that there was no instrumentation more portable than body percussion. I hope that this work invites listeners to recognize the intrinsic musicality that we all share. Stylistically, this piece draws partial inspiration from classical Indian percussion music, which I experienced when studying Carnatic (South Indian) music in Mysore under Rajalakshmi Kamala in the summer of 2013. Specifically, this piece features thrice repeated cadential rhythmic patterns (tihai) and syncopated rhythmic dialogues, typical of North Indian tabla and South Indian mridangam drumming. The tabla and mridangam are renowned for their ability to produce multiple pitches and timbres, and I hope to evoke this array of sounds through snapping, different kinds of clapping, thigh and chest pats, and stomping.


Percussion Quartet No. 1 (2015)

 

INSTRUMENTATION vibraphone, marimba, drum set, and toys

DURATION 6 minutes

READING So Percussion; Princeton, NJ; 31 July 2015


Losing Loss (2015)

Commissioned by Sonya Belaya

 

INSTRUMENTATION piano and drum set

DURATION 5 minutes

PREMIERE Sonya Belaya, piano; Julian Bridges, drum set; Ann Arbor, MI; 26 February 2015

ABOUT Losing Loss (2015) explores the in-between stages of grieving, a process that I believe is inconclusive and elusive. Specifically, I hope to evoke the array of emotions that the griever experiences: disorientation, anger, exhaustion, and the fragile hope of memorializing those we lose while releasing the pain of loss. This piece is dedicated to my friend, pianist Sonya Belaya, whose mother went missing in 2014.


LARGE ENSEMBLE

Undulate (2018)

Commissioned for the Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival at MASS MoCA by Elizabeth and Justus Schlichting

INSTRUMENTATION four violins, two violas, two violoncellos, and contrabass

DURATION 6 minutes

PREMIERE Claire Niederberger, Rose Xiu Yi Kow, Yi-Chun Lin, Shannon Reilly Steigerwald (violin); Kieran Welch, Molly Collier-O’Boyle (viola); Nick Photinos, Ashlee Booth (cello); Rebecca Lawrence (double bass); North Adams, MA; 23 July 2018

ABOUT Undulate (2018) explores the idea of harmonies ebbing and flowing in and out of each other. The musical theme, first presented by the cello, grows out of these shifting harmonies and later provides the melodic fragment that inspires a dance-like finale. Stylistically, the work draws loose inspiration from Medieval and Renaissance music.


Pirogue (2017)

INSTRUMENTATION full orchestra (2222 – 4221 – timp – 3 perc – hp – str)

DURATION 6 minutes

PREMIERE University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra (dir. Diego Piedra); Ann Arbor, MI; 6 February 2017

ABOUT Pirogue (2017) is loosely inspired by Senegalese director Moussa Touré’s film La pirogue (2013), which relates the tumultuous journey of a group of West African migrants who embark on a small dugout fishing boat for Spain, where they hope to find a better life. Throughout their journey, the migrants experience a mélange of hope, excitement, bittersweet nostalgia for their homeland, angst, delirium, and fear. At sea, they find themselves caught in a violent storm that destroys their pirogue’s engine and strands them off the Canary Islands. Eventually, a patrolling helicopter of the Spanish Red Cross rescues them. Their joy dissipates, however, when Spanish authorities hand them a fistful of Euros, a sandwich, and deport them back to their homelands. They are left suspended in disbelief. Like all artists, I prize freedom of expression, and I have advocated for migrant communities, whose capacity for self-expression is limited by linguistic and socioeconomic factors. As a volunteer French-English translator at the NYU/Bellevue Program for Survivors of Torture (2014), I facilitated French-Speaking African clients’ access to social services and medical care. As a volunteer at Freedom House Detroit (2016), I led weekly beginner-level English coaching sessions for asylum seekers. In all of my interactions with migrants, I have been deeply moved by their optimism and resilience. This piece is a tribute to their fortitude.


Movement (2012)

Live recording granted to composer for archival purposes only.

INSTRUMENTATION full orchestra (2222 – 2221 – timp – 1 perc – hp – pn – str)

DURATION 4 minutes

PREMIERE New York Philharmonic Orchestra (dir. Joshua Weilerstein); New York, NY; 24 May 2012