Works

Chamber Orchestra

Over the course of my college career, I’ve had ups and downs in motivation towards composing and whether or not I want it to be my future. This piece is my attempt to “get back to my roots” so to speak, to enjoy writing music again and write the kind of music I want to write. Over the years I’ve found myself drawn more towards the styles of classical composers such as Aaron Copland, and the scores to animation films by composers like John Powell.

What started out as a single-movement overture has become a sprawling multi-movement adventure, and I can’t wait to see where this music takes me. While the first movement was scheduled to be premiered in the spring of 2020, Temple’s closure due to COVID-19 means that it will likely be postponed until the fall. For now though, you can listen to an excerpt from one of the readings.

Brass Ensemble

As a Trumpet player, writing for brass instruments has always been where I’m most comfortable. Having played in brass choirs at multiple points in my life, I’ve enjoyed orchestrating works for brass, and those experiences have played into the creation of this piece.

Drawing influence from those arrangements and other sources – notably John Williams’s Scherzo for X-Wings from Star Wars – The Force Awakens – I have arrived at this work for brass ensemble. This piece also marks my first foray into a more dissonant harmonic language absent from my previous works.

Woodwind Quintet

This piece stems from a newfound appreciation for my home in Pennsylvania. Before going to college, all I could think about was getting away from the place I’d lived for 19 years. After a semester of being in New York, I’ve come to appreciate and gather inspiration from my home and discover a richness that I hadn’t realized before. I hope to capture that essence through this work for woodwind quintet, as I have always found woodwinds to be the most colorful instruments.

Nick Hall, flute
Lexie Kroll, oboe
Eric Just, clarinet
Martina Smith, horn
Dotan Yarden, bassoon

Solo Harp

Damhsa Sa Gaoth, translated “Dancing in the Wind”, is a Celtic fantasy for harp, and the second piece I’ve written based upon my love and fascination with Irish music. While I did not have any specific intentions when writing this piece, one could imagine dancing on a hilltop, twirling in the wind, with beautiful Irish landscape all around.

Orchestra

I’m not sure whether it’s my heritage from my mom’s side or my exposure to it while growing up, but I have long since held a fascination with Irish music and dance. Having friends and neighbors who were Irish dancers and musicians from Ireland probably contributed. It is from this that I attempted to write a piece that incorporated many of the different styles of Irish dances music – music that is authentic enough that it could have originated as folk music, yet given the treatment of a full orchestra. Also, given that the title has “dances” in it, music that one could theoretically dance to (for the most part). 

All of these dances though, are interconnected in such a way that makes this one multi- faceted piece of music, rather than simply four separate smaller ones. Each movement builds on the last, and each movement contains pieces of the others.