SMALL ENSEMBLE
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CLEAVE//SPLIT — [IN PROGRESS]
for double and percussion, 7’
commissioned by the Terracotta Duo
RATS, SNAKES, WEASELS (2025)
for string quartet, 8’
written for The Rhythm Method for the 2025 Lake George Music Festival Composers Institute
Trust has always been something that I’ve struggled with, especially as I’ve grown older. As I’ve discussed in other pieces, there is a horrible epidemic of gossip, jealousy, and hatred within our communities today. You can be colleagues and friends with some people for years before you learn of their true colors and discover you’ve bonded, possibly loved someone who wasn’t what they seemed. “rats, snakes” weasels” in a piece about my thoughts on this topic filled with uncertainty, unpleasant unity, and distrust.
Performances:
June 2025, The Rhythm Method, Lake George Music Festival, The Carriage House, Lake George, NY
SKETCH, SCRIBBLE, SCRAWL (2025)
for violin, clarinet, and marimba, 9’
written for the Ascendant Trio and completed in March 2025
Program Note:
A little known fact about me is that I started off as a a sketch artist before I ever wanted to do music. I always loved the feeling of holding a pencil, creating small pointless doodles during class when I should be paying attention, and the way many small fragments combine into a singular idea. A response to my graphic score from last year "splash, splatter, spill", "sketch, scribble, scrawl" is about the precision and repetitive motions I loved so much when drawing.
Performances:
April 20, 2024, Ascendant Trio, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
April 17, 2024, Ascendant Trio, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
April 17, 2024, Ascendant Trio, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
April 6, 2024, Ascendant Trio, University of Michigan, Briggs Chamber Music Competition, Ann Arbor, MI
[recording coming soon]
GOSSIP, WHISPERS, AND OTHER DRAMA (2024)
for soprano saxophone and alto saxophone, 7’
commissioned by the Lati2de Duo and completed in April 2024
I really dislike the entire concept of gossip. I've been on both ends of dialogue, neither of which helps my mental health in any regards. The same is true for many people I know. The use of bringing others down is seen as a way of lifting oneself up, even if its just temporarily. However, I don't believe this social norm is any way benecial to our society and continues to divide us. Gossip, whispers, and other drama is a theatrical work which takes many of these aspects and puts them in a grotesque, awful light.
Performances:
January 28, 2025, Lati2de, Dowagniac, MI
January 10, 2025, Lati2de, U.S. Navy Band Saxophone Symposium, Fairfax, VA (cancelled)
WRONG SIDE OF THE STREET (2024)
for soprano saxophone, bassoon, percussion, and piano, 9’
written for \newline
Program Note:
Being from the large city of Chicago, I'm familiar to getting lost a lot. Trying to find my way around downtown when I was younger was of. This engrained a sound into my head that I eventually began to utilized a lot throughout my music -- the dense congested noises of downtown travellers. wrong side of the street uses these ideas with many phrases where each player wonders to find the correct way to go, finally arriving on the correct path to their destination.
Performances:
April 8, 2025 - \newline (Megan Chow, soprano saxophone Christine Breeden, bassoon James Koo, percussion Jason Zhang, piano), University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
SPLASH, SPLATTER, SPILL (2024)
for improvising percussion duo, 13’
written for Xin Yi Chong’s Masters Chamber Recital and completed in February 2024
As I began discovering and analyzing more abstract artwork from the early 20th century, one that stuck out the most was Jackson Pollock. His drip paintings, recognized as his signature style which involves the paint being applied to the canvas through means of dripping, flicking, and spilling rather than direct brush contact, remain a point of controversy. Though his techniques are very creative, the resulting product is quite grotesque (which I say with the upmost appreciation of his work). I realized while studying Pollock and other abstract artists and the perception of their artwork to the general public is the lack of emphasis the general public has on the process that governs their work. Their pieces are often displayed in galleries and museums without any insight into their practice which can easily leave a negative experience for the observer. splash, splatter, spill is conceptualized as a sonic realization of the artistic process - both mine and Pollock's. Many ideas are tested, experimented with, and slowly developed over a very long time. Many of the sounds of the work evoke characteristics of Pollock's work, emphasizing the ideas of dripping and falling, splatters, and motion. In its conclusion, all of the material becomes layered quicker and quicker on top of one another until the final result resembles that of Pollock's work: A mangled cluster created with precise intent.
Performances:
April 13, 2024, Chong Xin Yi, James Koo, Hankinson Recital Hall, Ann Arbor, MI
FALSE LIGHT (2023)
for string quartet, 16’
written for the 2023 JACK Quartet Studio Workshops and was completed in April 2023
Movements:
i. mysteriously//agitated
ii. pacing//shocking
iii. mysteriously, with an ounce of familiarity//weak and exhausted
False Light is a set of three miniatures inspired by Chicago artist, Kyree "Spxrit" Saintilus' collection of watercolor paintings of the same name. Throughout the five paintings, the characters stare at the observer, you, with looks of disgust and fear. Why? I had no idea, and this mystery fueled my interest in this piece. This piece is constructed as a collage. Each movement has two sides to it based on its tempi which develop independently from one another. One style is based on the fears and horrors of the created individuals, and the other reflects on the mysterious scenario the characters are avoiding.
"This work was really inspired by my first few years in college and a lot of the stares and glances I was getting on campus and explores the paranoia of constantly being observed", Saintillus said about his piece, "It was really uncanny."
Performances:
February 4, 2025, Concert Music Outreach Collective, Shelter Association of Washtenaw County, Ann Arbor, MI
December 2, 2023, KIMM Quartet, Stamps Recital Hall, Ann Arbor, MI
September 23, 2023, JACK Quartet, Ocktaven Studios, New York, NY
EMBERS, CINDERS, ASH (2022)
for clarinet, violin, cello, and piano, 12’
This work was written for the Unheard-Of//Ensemble as part of their 2022 Residency at Illinois State University and was completed in October 2022.
When I begin writing a piece about a topic that is commonly portrayed, I try to ask myself - are there any ways to think about this topic in a different way? For ember, cinders, ash, I took a look at something simple - fire - and my personal relationship with the topic aside from it being generically dangerous. self-ignition mimics the struggle to start a lighter or a fire. the warmth of those around you is about how bonfires and firepits are used to bring people together and form a sense of community. Lastly, extinguished revisits the concepts of movement 1 and is about putting the fire out.
Honors:
Selected Work, 2023 Score Follower Call for Scores
Finalist, 2023 ASCAP Morton Gould Award
Performances:
November 2, 2022, Unheard-Of//Ensemble, Kemp Recital Hall, Normal, IL