Concerto for Violin and Chamber Orchestra (2009 rev. 2010) 14'

Awarded a 2010 Morton Gould Young Composer Honorable Mention from the ASCAP Foundation.
Awarded a Certificate of Achievement from New York Youth Symphony’s First Music 27.
Awarded the 2010 Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra’s commissioning prize.
[two versions: 1(picc).1(eh).1.1/1.1.1/2perc/hrp/pno(cel)/s. vln/2.1.1.1 OR
1(picc).1(eh).1.1/1.1.1/2perc/pno/s. vln/2.1.1.1]
31 October 2009, Auer Hall, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
31 July 2010, Jewett Fine Arts Center Auditorium, Wellesley Composers Conference, Wellesley, MA
(Wellesley Sinfonietta)

Program Note

At first envisioned as a concerto for violin and full orchestra, my Concerto for Violin and Chamber Orchestra saw its first seeds of life while on a trip to Berlin for a summer music festival in 2008. Gritty yet polished with a fierce sense of modernity, Berlin is a city with a dramatic history and a relentless, youthful energy. Since the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and in its twenty-one year renaissance, it has captured the cultural limelight and offers young people, like me, the possibility to invent or reinvent themselves. My violin concerto is, in many ways, the culmination of my rich experience there.

The piece is constructed in two halves: the first, a lyrical serenade based on the soloist’s entering theme (this musical idea is central to the piece); the second, a more boisterous, charismatic section featuring funky rhythms and meters and smaller chamber-like subsets of the ensemble. With that in mind, as I was writing it, I began to think of the form of the piece more as a rondo of tempi with each recurring A theme (slow music) becoming shorter and shorter until the end of the piece which finishes with a somber thirty second reinvention of the opening material – a glittery halo of sorts with bells, background strings and piano and a duet between the solo violin and english horn.

Listen to Concerto for Violin and Chamber Orchestra:

Orchestral

Chamber

Solo

Vocal

Orchestral Works

Ringing the Quiet (2011) 5'
Written for the Britten-Pears Programme at Aldeburgh Music.
[For chamber orchestra]
22 July 2011, Snape Maltings Concert Hall, Snape, Suffolk, UK
22 June 2012 (forthcoming), Aldeburgh Festival, Snape Maltings Concert Hall, Snape, Suffolk, UK

Concerto for Violin and Chamber Orchestra (2009 rev. 2010) 14'
Awards: 2010 Morton Gould Young Composer Honorable Mention from the ASCAP Foundation;
Certificate of Achievement from New York Youth Symphony's First Music 27;
2010 Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra's commissioning prize.
[two versions: 1(picc).1(eh).1.1/1.1.1/2perc/hrp/pno(cel)/s. vln/2.1.1.1 or 1(picc).1(eh).1.1/1.1.1/2perc/pno/s. vln/2.1.1.1]
31 October 2009, Auer Hall, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
31 July 2010, Jewett Fine Arts Center Auditorium, Wellesley Composers Conference, Wellesley, MA (Wellesley Sinfonietta)

The Riddle Man's Night Song (2008) 3'
Written for Indiana University's Kids Compose project.
[For full orchestra]
15 April 2009, Musical Arts Center, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN (IndianaUniversity Concert Orchestra)

Chamber Works

Szymborska Poems (2009) 17' [For flute and piano]
Awarded the 2010 Dean's Prize at Indiana University; 31 October 2009, Auer Hall, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN (Alan Tomasetti, flute; Bethany Pietroniro, piano)

Duo (2008) 6' [For violin and cello]
Selected for perfomance in the 2009 Midwest Composers' Symposium; 9 July 2008, Neue Synagogue, Berlin, Germany; 14 February 2009, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Michigan (Sarah Saviet, violin; Yotam Baruch, cello)

...from travelers' accounts (2008) 17' [For violin, horn and piano]
16 April 2009, Auer Hall, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN (Romuald Grimbert-Barré, violin; Julia Filson, horn; Batiste Rodrigues, piano)

Three Scarlet Moods (2007) 14' [For clarinet and piano]
Commissioned by the Brillaner Duo.; Awarded a 2007 Morton Gould Young Composer Award from the ASCAP Foundation; 28 October 2007, Concert Artist Guild Auditions, New York, NY; 18 October 2007, TriArea Concerts, Philadelphia, PA; 16 April 2007, Williams Hall, New England Conservatory, Boston, MA; (All performances were given by the Brillaner Duo.)

Diversions (2006) 12' [For cello and piano]
5 August 2007, Salle de Colone, Fountainbleau, France (Rachel Gawell, cello and Peter Liou, piano); 20 February 2007, Auer Hall, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN (Maria DiMeglio, cello; Bethany Pietroniro, piano)

String Trio (2006) 9' [For violin, viola and cello]
Written for the Yellow Barn Young Artists' Program.; June 2006, Yellow Barn Concert Hall, Putney, VT (Laura Lutzke, violin; Wendy Richman, viola; Patrick McGuire, cello)

Reflections on the Stations of the Cross (2006) 15' [For two cellos]
14 April 2006, Sacred Heart Church, Haworth, NJ

String Quartet (2005) 12' [For two violins, viola and cello]

Duo (2004) 5' [For violin and cello]

Solo Works

Prelude Number One Entitled the Egocentric Woman Thief (2010) 5' [For piano solo]
Written for the Freund-Haguenauer studio collaboration at Indiana University.
8 April, 2010, Ford Hall, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN (Colin DeJong, piano)

Chaconne (2007) 6' [For violin solo]
Written for Hammer and Nail, a collaborative project with the Indiana University Modern Dance Department.
27 April 2007, Waldron Arts Center, Bloomington, IN
28 April 2007, Waldron Arts Center, Bloomington, IN (Jenna Sherry, violin)

Image (2007) 5' [For piano solo]
Written for the Freund-Haguenauer studio collaboration at Indiana University.
12 April 2007, Ford Hall, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN (Jonathan Oddie, piano)

Doodle (2006) 4' [For clarinet solo]
June 2006, Recorded at the Yellow Barn Young Artists' Program by Shirley Brill.

Colored Leaf, Fallen (2005) 3' [For flute solo]

Vocal/Choral Works

Living Must Be Done Out Loud (2009) 10' [For 12 voices (SSSAAATTTBBB) and percussion]
Written in collaboration with poet Ralph Nazareth.
31 October 2009, Auer Hall, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN

Glass (2005) 3' [For soprano and piano]