Hybrid Rose

This piece is a cello solo and graphic score with electronic accompaniment commissioned by Athos Maelstrom (they/them) for their album OVERTRANSGRESSION. It is a meditation on nature, as well as the transgression* and beauty of the trans experience; gender fluidity has existed far longer than current gender norms and will continue to exist, much like how our ecosystem has existed far longer than the current systems of agriculture and will continue to thrive after we're gone. 

 * 'Transgression' meaning to go against a law or code of conduct


Hybrid Rose was made with samples from the following works, made by fellow musicians in the trans/gnc community in NYC: 

poem for flute and piano - Kyrese Washington (they/them) 

A Turtle Named Lovely - Lam ft. Hantitanti (sampled material is from vocalist Valentine Hueckel (they/them) / @punkrockglock )
Performed by Athos Maelstrom at La couleur de mes Rêves, a Mannes Composers Concert hosted at Arnhold Hall on Nov 5 2025

Birdman: The Free-Flying Circuit

This piece was written for Synnergy 2025, as part of the Nief Norf 2025 Summer Festival.

Birdman: The Free-Flying Circuit was inspired by a brief research stint in bird flight, and the ways in which birds are often used to represent personal growth and the friction between how we live and who we want to be.
Performed by Nief Norf 2025 festival fellows and faculty*

flute, Lisa Cella*
bassoon, Trey Barrett
violin/viola, Mark Menzies*
percussion, Ethan Sherlock
piano, Holly McMahon

Flowering Wasps

This piece was written for INSIDE // OUTSIDE, a collaboration between Mosaic Composers Collective (MoCoCo) and SydeBoob Duo for the debut of MoCoCo's new lineup of members.

Flowering Wasps was inspired by the relationship between figs and fig wasps, and how it compares to the contrasting - yet deeply intertwined - relationships that we have with our own communities.

view perusal score here
purchase score here
Performed by SydeBoob Duo on February 28th 2025 at Balance Arts Center's Karl Kemp Performance Space

Biscuits

This piece was loosely inspired by Ellen Bass' The Thing Is, featured in her book Mules of Love.
Read by the JACK Quartet on December 12th 2024 at Ernst C. Stiefel Hall

Home

This piece was commissioned by Composers Now for their Second Stage Initiative, a commissioning, mentoring, and professional development project supported by the Toulmin Foundation.

This piece is a partially graphic score, with illustrations inspired by the flight patterns of the Mourning Dove and Zebra Finch.

view the perusal score here
Commissioned, written, and performed for the Composers Now: Second Stage Initiative on December 2nd 2024 at The DiMenna Center for Classical Music (Benzaquen)

Mike Ramsey, gongs
Grant Braddock, drumset
Sean Statser, vibraphone
Javier Diaz, argentinian bombo

Lake Tear of the Clouds

This piece was inspired by a tarn of the same name in the Adirondack Mountains, often cited as the top of the Hudson River.
Performed for the Mannes Composers Concert #1: Turning a New Leaf on October 09 2024 at Ernst C. Stiefel Hall

Ryan Ghassemi, bassoon
Louis "Lou" Barker, violin
Sathvi Ramaseshan, violin
Athos Maelstrom, cello

Watermelons!

This piece was 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
Performed for the Mannes Composers Concert #6 on April 18th 2024 at Ernst C. Stiefel Hall

Trey Coudret, bassoon
Nicholas Gioletti, vibraphone
Alex Barsom, piano
Sophie Dolman, piano

The Maturity in Warm Lights

This piece is 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]
Performed at Notes After : An Exploration of Music by the Next Generation of Composers Concert 2, hosted by the Francis Kite Club, curated by Bruno Robles-Rendón

Thacher Schreiber, english horn
Jonathan Mokry, bassoon
Nicholas Gioletti, piano
Sunjay Jayaram, viola

Roses

This piece is a setting of Roses by Ellen Bass, a reflection of the grief felt after the death of a loved one told through an observation of roses.

An arrangement of this piece for flute, voice, and cello was featured on the Nebula Project, Volume 1: Little Gems collaboration concert between Luna Lab and ChamberQUEER. Listen here.

Learn more about the Nebula Project here.
Performed at Notes After : An Exploration of Music by the Next Generation of Composers, hosted by the Francis Kite Club, curated by Bruno Robles-Rendón

Avery Richards, voice
Matthew Maroon, oboe

Windowpane

This piece was inspired by blue and iridescent bird feathers, which are primarily colored by the structure of their melanin and keratin rather than pigment. Awarded the 2022 G. Schirmer Prize for Luna Lab

Score
Written and performed for the Luna Lab Festival

Performed by members of the International Contemporary Ensemble

Dwarf Planet

The title for this piece was inspired by recent news from NASA about five new TESS objects of interest that could help us understand brown dwarfs (TOI-148, TOI-587, TOI-681, TOI-746 and TOI-121).

https://scitechdaily.com/five-astronomical-objects-help-unravel-the-mystery-of-brown-dwarfs/
Written and performed for the Great Plains Composers Workshop 2021

Rachelle Goter, clarinet

Bloom

This piece uses a definition of the word 'bloom' from Princeton's online dictionary to explore deconstructed text.

(n) bloom, blush, flush, rosiness (a rosy color (especially in the cheeks) taken as a sign of good health) Princeton University "About WordNet." WordNet. Princeton University. 2010.
Written and performed for the Wildflower Composers Program

Ellie Sutherland, voice
Arlen Hlusko, cello

Lemonade

This piece is based on brief research done on various sea slugs and nudibranchs, exploring biological phenomena as the 'program' for programmatic work, detailing kleptoplasty, the digestion and use of nematocysts and latrunculin A, and reproduction.
Written and performed for the MATA Jr. Festival 2021

Performed by the Bergamot Quartet