Elephant

was originally written for trombonist Shelby Kifer. The piece was written in September 2012 as part of the University of Iowa's 24-hour composition project. The entire contrabass trombone range is covered, from A0 to F4

We Knew To Plant A Seed Before Him

This piece is dedicated to Erik Santos. I couldn't have finished it without his encouragement and guidance.

Checkov's Gun for solo marimba

"One must not put a loaded rifle on the stage if no one is thinking of firing it". - Anton Chekhov. 'Chekhov's Gun' was premiered by Matt Levine in November 2011 at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana.

Le Joujou du pauvre

is a short work for piano trio which I began last April when given the opportunity to have a miniature read by the Boston-based Trio Cleonice. I spent the summer expanding this material in the form of a set of theme and variations, which ebb and flow between contrapuntal and timbral explorations of the ensemble. The title pays homage to the aforementioned prose work of Charles Baudelaire.

Déjate Caer

The title translates as: let yourself fall, and is taken from the Spanish poem Árbol de Diana by Alejandra Pizarnik:

"Vida, mi vida, déjate caer, déjate doler, mi vida,
déjate enlazar de fuego,
de silencio ingenuo, de piedras verdes en la casa de la noche,
déjate caer y doler, mi vida."

[Life, my life, let yourself fall, let yourself hurt, my life,
let yourself be engulfed by fire,
of ingenuous silence, of green stones in the house of the night,
let yourself fall and hurt, my life.]

Thought Disorders

Thought Disorders (TD) is a term for incomprehensible language that is presumed to be as a result of disordered thinking. This piece is a set of short piano studies, each musically representing a different one of these disorders. 'Thought Blocking' Sudden interruption of train of speech before completion. 'Derailment' Disordered speech that is a sequence of unrelated or only remotely related ideas.

Mountain Town

is a poem written by Ann Marie Thornburg, a University of Michigan Graduate Fellow in the Poetry department. Set in a rural mountain town, the poem observes the domestication of a fox as a cruel stripping of its freedom. The text begins with a somewhat frantic debate about whether to let the fox live or be captured and domesticated. After it is decided to let the fox live, the color of the poem changes drastically and the text becomes almost elegiac, mourning the animal's existence as a subservient animal.

Duo for two violins

is composed of five short pieces. With minor and major second intervals, it is attempted to explore various gestures of rubbing sounds within each piece.

Eternal Springtime

"Does 'eternal' springtime exist?" I asked myself when I saw the sculpture "Eternal Springtime by Auguste Rodin (1840 - 1917). Spring comes and summer follows. All the green disappears. The warmth and freshness are covered by the burning sun. It doesn't seem as if eternal spring exists…yet, the sweetness and beauty of spring may exist in our hearts forever. Or memories of and in spring. Eternal Springtime is the third one of my four seasons; first, Winter Sketches (2008) for String Quartet; and second, autumn leaves canvas (2010) for solo harp.

Deformity for string quartet

is based somewhat loosely on material composed for my own Conformity #3. In the fashion of Pierre Boulez, this piece is not an arrangement or reorchestration, but an attempt to grow a new tree from broken branches. The idea of "deformity" has always been one of my greatest fears - at times almost a phobia - the main subject of recurring nightmares.