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Broken Pearls

Broken Pearls, for string orchestra, is a play on certain Baroque music of the early 18th century. The word baroque was originally derogatory; it meant “imperfect or misshapen pearl” (a rebuke of Baroque-period art by later, Classical-period critics). Broken Pearls...

One Hit Song

One Hit Song, for orchestra, is named for the bit of advice my grandfather always gives when the conversation turns to my career in music. He imagines, in a best-case scenario, that I might compose something like the next “White Christmas,” and become the next Irving...

Borrowed Time

Borrowed Time, for violin and piano, was born out of my fascination with the music of the Hungarian composer György Ligeti (1923–2006). At the time of the work’s composition, I’d been exploring in particular Ligeti’s later-period pieces (of the 1980s and 90s), which...

Lucy, I’m Home and Other Meshugas

Lucy I’m Home and Other Meshugas, for brass quintet, is about injecting levity into serious music. As such, each of its three movements incorporates a humorous element. The opening movement, “Antiphon,” divides the quintet into two groups, whose stately...

Eulogy for “This Way to the Monkeys”

Eulogy for “This Way to the Monkeys”, for clarinet, cello, and piano, explores the theme of nostalgia, and the “letting go” that often accompanies growing up. The title refers to an artifact from my past—a page that I’d ripped out of a Curious George coloring book and...