CHAMBER ENSEMBLE
Música para el pez vela
Instrumentation: bass clarinet, piano, two percussion
Duration: 9.5’
Program Note: TBD
Premiere: 2023, Saint Paul, MN (Unheard-Of)
Unheard-Of
MERDIEM OBSCURA
Instrumentation: B-flat clarinet, violin, two percussion
Duration: 8’
Program Note: TBD
Premiere: 2023, St. Paul, MN (10th Wave Chamber Collective)
Sauvons le mini-cheval
Instrumentation: flute, B-flat clarinet, bassoon, horn, violin, viola, cello, marimba
Duration: 9.5’
Program Note: TBD
Premiere: 2019, Saint Paul, MN (Hub New Music)
ONE-DOG CANOE
Instrumentation: flute, B-flat clarinet, bassoon, horn, violin, viola, cello, marimba, narrator
Duration: 10’
Program Note: One-Dog Canoe was commissioned as part of the award-winning Kinder Konzerts program–the signature initiative of the FRIENDS of the Minnesota Orchestra. Kinder Konzerts builds a concert around the commissioned work, pairing it with a children's book. Designed for pre-school-aged children and their teachers, Kinder Konzerts commissions are performed by Minnesota Orchestra musicians and narrator, reaching an audience of about 5000 people each year.
Premiere: 2019, Minneapolis, MN (Minnesota Orchestra musicians)
Minnesota Orchestra musicians
SHADOWS of SHADOWS PASSING
Instrumentation: bass clarinet, piano, two percussion
Duration: 11’
Program Note: In the summer of 2018, I visited the famously haunted Palmer House in Sauk Centre, Minnesota, seeking inspiration for a new Halloween-themed commission. I slept in room 11 (known for being occupied by a spirit named “Annie”) and took part in two paranormal investigations. This work reflects what I experienced in my time there – in particular, the glimpses of shadows I observed creeping in the darkness of the hotel’s basement. The title of the work is derived from Edgar Allen Poe’s “Marginalia.”
Shadows of Shadows Passing was commissioned by Zeitgeist. Special thanks to the Palmer House and Jenny Melton of the Twin Cities Paranormal Society.
Premiere: 2018, Saint Paul, MN (Zeitgeist)
Katla the Hag and Her Magic Britches
Instrumentation: bass clarinet, piano, two percussion
Duration: 11’
Program Note: While visiting Iceland in the summer of 2016, I stumbled upon the story behind the naming of “Katla”—a very active, dangerous volcano in the southern part of the country. As the legend goes, Katla was a foul-tempered housekeeper at a monastery back in the 12th century. She was rumored to be a witch who owned a pair of magic britches that made it possible for whoever wore them to run as fast as the wind without tiring. This work attempts to capture the spirit and character of the alleged hag.
Premiere: 2017, Saint Paul, MN (Zeitgeist)
Zeitgeist
SLEVENS
Instrumentation: oboe, violin, viola, cello
Duration: indeterminate
Program Note: Slevens is a composition–one part music, one part dice throwing game–for four instrumentalists, four dice-throwers, and conductor. Each performer is given a set of a musical phrases, and a corresponding dice-thrower rolls to determine which phrase their performer will execute.
Premiere: 2017, Golden Valley, MN (Stone Arch Collective)
(Recording unavailable)
is always BE
Instrumentation: saxophone quartet
Duration: 7.5’
Program Note: Tres Furias was inspired by a Toulouse-Lautrec exhibition I visited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Part of the installation focused on what the artist called furias, or “intense obsessions with certain performers who would enthrall him for a single season or several years.” In Tres Furias, I focus on three musical ‘obsessions’ in the form of three different collections of pitches.
Premiere: 2016, Saint Paul, MN (Caprice Saxophone Quartet)
Caprice Saxophone Quartet
SONG OF UNKTEHI
Instrumentation: bass clarinet, marimba
Duration: 9’
Program Note: The word Unktehi is derived from a legend of the Dakota and Lakota Sioux Native American tribes. According to the mythology, Unktehi—god of waters and evil—was a great horned serpent that lived below the waters of St. Anthony Falls in Minneapolis. After living in this area five years, I wanted to compose a work in which I would try to capture the spirit of the falls, assigning the serpent character to bass clarinet. Song of Unktehi was commissioned by, and written for, clarinetist Sarah Porwoll-Lee.
Premiere: 2015, Saint Paul, MN (Sarah Porwoll-Lee, Jeremy Johnston)
Transient Canvas
Tres Furias
Instrumentation: flute, tenor saxophone, violin, cello, vibraphone
Duration: 10’
Program Note: Tres Furias was inspired by a Toulouse-Lautrec exhibition I visited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Part of the installation focused on what the artist called furias, or “intense obsessions with certain performers who would enthrall him for a single season or several years.” In Tres Furias, I focus on three musical ‘obsessions’ in the form of three different collections of pitches.
Premiere: 2015, Saint Paul, MN (Strains New Music Ensemble)
Strains New Music Ensemble
Nishkaadizi-Nibi
Instrumentation: flute, alto flute, cello
Duration: 5’
Program Note: Nine Wee Drams is a divertimento-flavored work for clarinet and cello, consisting of nine short movements. Each movement is named for a favorite brand of Scotch whisky—Caol Ila, Kilchoman, Ledaig, Ardbeg, Cragganmore, Balvenie, Lagavuilin, Laphroaig, and Macallan. This work was commissioned by the Spitting Image Collective, and made possible by a grant from the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council.
Premiere: 2014, New York, NY (Écouter Ensemble)
(Recording unavailable)
NINE WEE DRAMS
Instrumentation: B-flat clarinet, cello
Duration: 11’
Program Note: Nine Wee Drams is a divertimento-flavored work for clarinet and cello, consisting of nine short movements. Each movement is named for a favorite brand of Scotch whisky—Caol Ila, Kilchoman, Ledaig, Ardbeg, Cragganmore, Balvenie, Lagavuilin, Laphroaig, and Macallan. This work was commissioned by the Spitting Image Collective, and made possible by a grant from the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council.
Premiere: 2014, St. Paul, MN (Sarah Porwoll-Lee, B-flat clarinet; Lars Krogstad, cello)
Sarah Porwoll-Lee, B-flat clarinet; Lars Krogstad, cello
BLOOD MOON RAG
Instrumentation: piano four-hands
Duration: 5’
Program Note: Blood Moon Rag was composed in response to a challenge from Charlie McCarron and his “Composer Quest” podcast. For this Quest No. 8–“May the Four-Hand Piano Be With You”–composers were asked to write piano pieces for four hands in honor of Star Wars Day (May 4th). I chose to create something light and fun, something one might hear in Mos Eisley Cantina.
Premiere: 2014, Saint Paul, MN (Susan Hsu, Franco Holder)
(Recording unavailable)
SHORTER OF BREATH
Instrumentation: string quartet
Duration: 9’
Program Note: Around the age of 25, while listening to Pink Floyd’s “Time,” the lyrics suddenly came straight out of the speakers and hung before me as the grimmest of harbingers. Although still quite young in the scheme of things, hitting the quarter-century mark forced me to confront the fact that I was in fact aging, and that things were not going entirely according to my plan. Shorter of Breath is the exploration of my fears as I trace my emotional progression from calm confusion to structured chaos.
Premiere: 2000, Austin, TX (Lucretia Strings)
Lucretia Strings
HANNAH’S GRAVE
Instrumentation: flute, B-flat clarinet, violin, cello, piano, vibraphone
Duration: 9’
Program Note: Hannah’s Grave is inspired by an allegedly haunted area of rural central Minnesota. As a native of this region, I have had many experiences there, and I am very familiar with the stories associated with the myth of Hannah. According to the legend, a windmill, near which Hannah is supposedly buried, drips blood and spins wildly even on the calmest of nights. Cars driving near the windmill have been rumored to stall for no apparent reason, and there is a general sense of unrest and uncertainty surrounding the area. Hannah’s Grave is a work for mixed instrumental ensemble, in which I sought to capture the atmosphere of both my own experiences and the stories of the legend, as told to me by my friends and family.
Premiere: 2000, Kansas City, MO (UMKC Musica Nova)
University of Texas New Music Ensemble
SCHERZOPHRENIA
Instrumentation: wind quintet
Duration: 3.5’
Program Note: Scherzophrenia is a work that deals with the subliminal influence of other music on my own writing–a phenomenon familiar to most composers (whether or not we want to admit it). I deliberately chose to impose a tight writing schedule to free myself from the constraints of my omnipresent internal editor. I feel that this process allowed me to better explore these external musics as they “invaded” my musical thinking.
1st Prize winner in the 1999 UMKC Composition Competition
Premiere: 1999, Kansas City, MO (UMKC Wind Quintet)
Madera Wind Quintet
In the Mud at Toad Suck Park
Instrumentation: five percussion
Duration: 8’
Program Note: This piece was inspired by a combination of elements—a conference trip with composer friends through Toad Suck Park near Conway, Arkansas, and the music of progressive rock trio, Primus. Rhythms contained in the work are based upon rhythmic figures found in some of my favorite Primus songs, and influenced by rhythms of a van-load of composers traveling over bumpy terrain in search of beer in a dry county.
Premiere: 1999, Northfield, MN (St. Olaf Percussion Ensemble; David Hagedorn, dir.)
University of Central Oklahoma Percussion Ensemble