chamber works

Birdman: The Free-Flying Circuit

Written for flute, bassoon, violin/viola, piano, and percussion

I thought it would be fun to imagine what it might feel like to fly :).
Year Composed
2025

Length
approx. 8min

Lake Tear of the Clouds

Written for string quartet and bassoon

Inspired by a tarn of the same name in the Adirondack Mountains, often cited as the top of the Hudson River.
Year Composed
2024

Length
approx. 12min

Watermelons!

Written for english horn, contrabassoon, vibraphone, piano, and viola


Inspired by the structure and pleochroism of Watermelon Tourmaline crystals.
Pleochroism is when a substance shines a different color at different angles under polarized light.

Habit: acicular, massive
Luster: vitreous
Cleavage: Indistinct
Fracture: irregular, small conchoidal
System: hexagonal
Formula: A(D3)G6(T6O18)(BO3)3X3Z
Colors: green edge and pink center, transparent between both colors
Year Composed
2024

Length
approx. 9min

The Maturity in Warm Lights

Written for english horn, bassoon, piano, and viola

Inspired by the structure and pleochroism of Zircon crystals; pleochroism is when a substance shines a different color at different angles under polarized light.

Habit: tabular to prismatic
Luster: adamantine
Cleavage: indistinct
Fracture: conchoidal to irregular
System: tetragonal
Formula: ZrSiO4
Colors: orangy-brown to orangy-red [weak pleochroism]
Year Composed
2023

Length
approx. 10min

blue

Written for mezzo-soprano, cello, and oboe

An exploration of deconstructed text, using a definition of Blue from Princeton University's online dictionary, WordNet.

(adj) gloomy, grim, blue, depressed, dispirited, down, downcast, downhearted, down in the mouth, low, low-spirited (filled with melancholy and despondency) Princeton University "Blue." WordNet. Princeton University. 2010.
Year Composed
2023

Length
approx. 2-3min

Windowpane

Written for piano quintet

Inspired by blue and iridescent bird feathers, which are primarily colored by the structure of their melanin and keratin rather than pigment
Year Composed
2022

Length
approx. 6min

New York Movie, 1939

Written for string quartet

Inspired by Edward Hopper's New York Movie, painted in 1939
Year Composed
2022

Length
approx. 4min

My Neighbor's Flowers

Written for flute, bass clarinet (Bb), viola, cello, acoustic guitar, 4 octave vibraphone
Year Composed
2022

Length
approx. 6min

Lemonade

Written for string quartet

An exploration of biological phenomena as the 'program' for programmatic work, detailing kleptoplasty, the digestion and use of nematocysts and latrunculin A, and reproduction as seen in various sea slugs and nudibranchs
Year Composed
2021

Length
approx. 5-6min

Eagles

Written for woodwind quintet

Inspired by the Cranbrook House and Gardens in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
Year Composed
2021

Length
approx. 9min