Eos was the name of the Greek Titan goddess of Dawn. The piece is inspired by the slow awakening of the sun in the East each morning, and the beauty and danger of gazing into it. Eos is the first in a series of four string quartets I plan to write, each facing in one of the cardinal directions. It was premiered at the Chicago Chamber Music Society’s 75th Annual Gala by the fantastic Borromeo Quartet, 4/21/2012 at Chicago’s historic Women’s Athletic Club.

Click here for the video! Another teaser from my forthcoming dissertation album, Angelswort, heard at my D.M. recital as performed by the Sissy-Eared Mollycoddles. Dave Reminick, bari sax; Alex Temple, piano; Chris Fisher-Lochhead, bass; Ben Hjertmann, voice. Artwork is taken from the album artwork by Alex Mitchell.

Click here for the video!  A teaser from my forthcoming dissertation album, Angelswort, heard at my D.M. recital as performed by the Sissy-Eared Mollycoddles.  Dave Reminick, bass; Alex Temple, piano; Chris Fisher-Lochhead, viola.  Artwork is taken from the album artwork by Alex Mitchell.

Click for Video! A bicinium is a pedagogical two-part composition – a common genre in the Renaissance and Baroque. Mine was written for Luke Gullickson and myself. Bicinium is a study, yes, in two-part writing, but even more it is a study in the rehearsal process and the ritual of conjuring sounds. In early 2012, Bicinium provided a chance to re-discover the joy of making music. Bicinium was performed on my D.M. recital 5/14/12 in Lutkin Hall at Northwestern and was reprised at Curtiss Hall, the Fine Arts Building.

The  Spektral Quartet, a new, indispensable treasure of the Chicago music world, performed my arrangement of Hidden Place by Bjork. The piece was premiered 9/8/11 at the Empty Bottle in Chicago and performed as an encore on 12/5/11 at Lutkin Hall in Evanston.

This music was conceived on the Winter Solstice, in the Northwoods of Wisconsin. In the darkness of the deep winter, a deluge of imagined sounds overtook me, as in dream where ideas freely intermingle and logic is extraneous. The process of extracting and distilling tangible music from that intial state of unadulterated inspiration ran parallel with the illumination of Spring. In some cultures ravens and crows, members of the Corvid family, are associated with creation. It is said that Raven ventures into the darkness to steal light for the world.

My first composition for wind ensemble, the piece shares its name with an invasive species of shrub which has infested areas in American Southwest. It is mostly spiky but at times is deceptively tender. Slowly they accrue and multiply until the ensemble is overtaken and forced into a sort of tonal/temporal wasteland.The piece was co-premiered by the Northwestern University Symphonic Wind Ensemble and the Northshore Concert Band, Mallory Thompson, conductor. Click to purchase score/parts.

Commissioned The Anubis Quartet and premiered in Chihuahua, Mexico, in September of 2010. Anubis reprised the piece in Alberta, then Chicago, Bowling Green, and Evanston. Check out the wonderful video from my Doctoral recital by Clara Tomaz!

This organum sextuplum is based on the classic “dummy” text of the printing industry, “Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet”. The Requiem Introit text casts light and shadows on the fragmented Latin in Lorem Ipsum. Through the use of inward singing all voices sing continuously throughout. Excluding reverb, no effects were used.

From a dark concentration of sound, there slowly forms a melodic figure. The live instruments extend from the pulsing core as tendrils, liberated, yet deeply entrenched in the original energy.

Bhyxe is scored for Flute, Clarinet, Violin, Cello and Fixed Media and was recorded by the Callithumpian Consort and was awarded the 2010 William T. Faricy Award and a 2011 Other Minds Fellowship. Performances: 2/20/11 and 2/25/11 at the University of Chicago and San Francisco on 3/2/11 by the Navitas Ensemble. Click for Press. Drawing by Trimpin, Photo by Tom Starkland.

Live recording from The Sissy-Eared Mollycoddles 13.12.09 concert in Chicago. Rock Hocket and Surreal Mondegreens scored for Bass Clarinet, Contrabassoon, Cello, Contrabass, Drum Set and Tenor sung by Ben Hjertmann.

A new version of Have an Orange for saxophones, synth, melodica, bass, drums and voice was premiered at The Green Mill on Halloween, 2010 and reprised in Austin for South by Southwest on a Showcase with Gabriel Prokofiev!

Click for lyrics by the composer.