La Solitude
A short dance film inspired by Barbara (Monique Andrée Serf) and Debussy’s piano preludes, that I produced, directed and made the music for in 2023. Score available at the link:
A new way to tune the orchestra
An exploration into the hitherto uncharted waters of full orchestra microtonal scordatura: in this example half of the orchestra is tuned to A=437hz (notated in red), while the remainder is tuned to a more standard A=441hz. The resulting ~16 cent discrepancy in the mid range allows for the just tuning of chords with open strings, as well as dramatic microtonal juxtapositions and unstable unisons that explore new timbres of dark and light. Hear more at the link:
Four Songs for Orchestra
3(II=bfl,III=picc).2+cl in a.3.3 / 4.3.2+btrb.1 / timp.2perc / hp.pf / str
Job’s Reply
A sprawling experimental cantata inspired by Bach, Copland, Berg, and Caroline Shaw, featuring extended vocal techniques, microtonal harmony, an ‘anti-psalm’ from the book of Job, and Bach’s chorale BWV 60 ‘Es ist genug’.
Premiered by Pro Coro in Edmonton, Alberta. Full score and recording at the link:
SOUNDYARD Composer’s Circle
In 2018 I founded a Schoenberg-inspired New Music Society to bring together young composers, performers, and listeners. We meet at quarterly concerts to play our latest pieces, hear each other’s work, and talk about music. After several sold out performances, SOUNDYARD went online during covid, but is soon returning to live performance.
Join SOUNDYARD on Patreon
Conducting Highlights
With over 10 years of professional conducting experience for new music ensembles and chorus, since my time at Juilliard I have expanded into orchestral conducting, most recently directing Haydn’s Creation in April 2023. Follow the link for further conducting highlights:
Sonic Timelapse
A Canada-wide arts project that commissioned me along with nine other Canadian composers for the writing and distribution of new music during the pandemic. Presentations of the music took place across Canada and in Europe.
See my contribution—a friendly microtonal choral showpiece, featuring some never-before-heard harmony—at the link:
THE VOLUMES
A fully produced dance work composed by me and choreographed by Waverly Fredericks. The piece explores a coming of age in the Bronx: family, sex, loneliness, and resilience set within a teeming concrete landscape.
Full performance and score at the link:
Dance Figure: For the Marriage in Cana of Galilee
“A very beautiful piece of writing”
-John Corigliano
A feverish vision of the Marriage in Cana of Galilee (John 2), Dance Figure takes the form of a love poem written to the bride Nathat-Ikanaie: “Tree-at-the-river.”
One of my favourite recent performances, featuring tenor Michael McDermott, and myself on piano. Full performance/score at the link:
The Crane Wife
A sprawling fifteen minute song cycle telling the true story of the author’s breakup with her fiance, and her subsequent journey to Texas to study the Whooping Crane. Told in a cacophonous diversity of gospel, rock n roll, piano ballad, and more traditional art song styles.
Full score and recording at the link:
Jenkins & Rassler
I’m thrilled to be represented by the music production firm of Jenkins and Rassler (jenkinsandrassler.com). Reach out to them for any composing, arranging, music direction, and multi-disciplinary production needs.
Medieval Melody and Modern Technique
"She must speak of the time of Arnaut de Mareuil, I thought. . ."
Based on a recently discovered 12th century melody (pictured) by the medieval troubadour Arnaut de Mareuil, The Fish and the Shadow oscillates between modern-romantic images of sun, water, and fish, and the stark sound of heterophonic melody and organum over a drone.
The violin makes the journey from the modern to the medieval via scordatura tuning down a whole tone, in order to better approximate the soft, warm drone of the medieval vielle. Watch a sample below, or follow the link for the full score and performance:
The Fish and the Shadow (2018)
sop, vln, vc, pf
