ORIGINAL WORKS

I was asked to write this piece by one of my peers at Ithaca College who became my friend through playing poker! Six eccentric players are represented in four rounds of poker, played in four movements. Each round builds in intensity as the stakes get higher before the big shove!

Snare Drum, Wood Blocks, Sus. Cymbal, Crash Cymbal, Tam-Tam, Bass Drum, Slide Whistle, Kazoo, Deck of Cards, 6 Buy-Ins of Poker Chips

Live recording coming soon!

I. Gentleman’s Round
II. Limping In
III. Bluffing
IV. All In

This piece is a lively conversation between the piano and flute with a quasi-call-and-response texture throughout. The jubilant beginning features melodic embellishment and dotted rhythms that make the music bounce around like dancing in the sky. The ensuing march-like piano brings out an imperial affect that builds with the legato flute like the wind of a brewing storm. With racing technical passages, the energy is sustained throughout the piece leading to a celebratory finish. 

Live recording coming soon!

This work was selected as the winner of the 2025 Louis Smadbeck Composition Award. A “dawn” is not something we typically think of as orbiting; I think of this piece as the feeling and mood of a sunrise with atmospheric elements coming in and out like an object in orbit. Listen for a Bb that consistently presides over the changing harmonies, representing our reference frame in the piece. Intermittent dissonances symbolize the slow, gravitational push and pull between celestial bodies. The use of distant chord relationships creates a broad sound scape, where warm sections are contrasted by imminent tension and textural manipulation. There’s distant shimmering and hope, celestial triumph, solar eclipsing, nebulous drifting, and cosmic brilliance – all packed into the powerful sound of this trombone octet.

Live recording coming soon!

A spin on the traditional Japanese folk tune – this version of Sakura Sakura is reimagined using a 6/8+3/4 Bembé groove and modal reharmonization. Check out this premiere recording to hear the 16-bar form, 12-bar solo section with a free time drum solo before getting back into the groove.

The first movement of the larger Mantis Symphony, the Mantis Overture is the winner of the Ithaca College ’24 orchestra composition competition. The Mantis Symphony is titled after the agile string and woodwind lines and methodical brass figures resembling that of the graceful mantis navigating the wild. Barren echoing horn calls send conniving and tactile melodies weaving their way around the orchestra.

I Was Made For Good

Recording unavailable.

Commissioned by the Caroline Elementary School in Ithaca, NY, this piece carries an inspiring message of identity and self-love, accompanied with a lively piano part. Written in collaboration with the students who contributed their own ideas towards the lyrics.

In this lament, the piano weeps and shouts across its entire register. Harmonies unravel atop pedal bass notes, and right hand ostinati create a clear texture, allowing the left hand to speak. The frequent melodic repetition allows for expressive rhythmic fluctuation to ebb and flow through each bar, accelerating to the thunderous moments of the piece. At last, the cataclysmic climax erupts in deeply dramatic and intense punctuations of bass notes with agonizing chordal passages in the higher register.

Vivacious mallet percussion using animated pentatonic language coupled with bright untuned percussion drives the piece and will get you feeling all bubbly inside.

Originally written for string trio and reworked into the unconventional string quintet with bass, Rocket 1492 loosely follows a traditional fast-slow-fast structure. It begins with a tense chordal introduction before launching into an energetic 7/8 theme, a lush cello solo, and a fervent finale. This work is driven by rhythm, with non-functional harmonies weaved together in the voice leading. Be ready for the players’ performance to extend beyond their instrument!

Technical woodwinds, thunderous brass, and claves in the percussion, this piece will have you feel like you’re dashing from dune to dune!

Throughout powerful, harmonically dense writing for choir, I set the text of As the World Caves In by Matt Maltese alongside Glimpse of Us by Joji to tell the story of a glimpse of the past slipping away from memory.

Recording unavailable.

3 Pieces for Bassoon was the first full-length concert music I put out into the world! The first movement unfolds with a broad, sparkling quality, evoking a sense of wonder like the opening of a grand fairytale. The second movement shifts into a much darker atmosphere, ranging from despair to ferocity, before softening into a sweeter, more open resolution. This sets the stage for the vivacious third movement in a brisk 6/8. This is one of my most traditional pieces, rooted in a neo-romantic style that blends sweeping lyricism with rich, complex textures.