for Strings

The Masochist's Tango

for solo violin

 

Dance Suite

for solo violin or viola

 

selections from

The Extinction Series

for 'cello

 

for Percussion

Raijin

for solo percussion

 

Open Me or Readdress Me

from Night, like velvet:

in twelve letters

for solo percussion

 

selections from

The Extinction Series

for vibraphone

 

for Piano

selections from

The Extinction Series

for solo piano

 

 

for Brass

D is for...the fear of being

undressed in front of someone from

Alphabephobia:

something goes

Wrong Everyday

for solo trombone

or bass trombone

 

 

for Winds

False Memories from

Le Lobster Phone: Seven Surrealist Statements from the Notebooks of

Salvador Dali

for solo flute

 

 

SOLO WORKS |

PORTFOLIO

click on the title of the work

for further details

& audio samples

The Masochist’s Tango is broken into three movements in the classical style, although it lacks any clear formal precedent. Eschewing the standard fast--slow--fast structure, the opening movement is a lugubrious quasi- improvisational journey, an exploration of color and line. Double stops and tremolo contribute a deathly pallor to the work, unfolding in layers of pulsating bow work, as though the dance cannot seem to commence. The second movement arrives attacca, containing the eponymous dance, a col legno celebration of tango rhythms and affections. The third section, to be played “with great lust and wanton desire,” is an apotheosis of the two preceding movements, marrying the mood of the first movement with the sultry rhythms of the second, whilst exploring the uppermost register of the instrument.

Although I typically write for chamber ensembles, or large ensembles that require a conductor, I’ve recently been exploring works for solo instruments. As a composer who is motivated by orchestration, and combining instrumental colors to create new ones, I find that working with one instrument is much more difficult. However constraints do breed creativity, and, when forced to work with one single instrument, you have to really think about maximizing what you can get out of the instrument.  The Masochist’s Tango for solo violin is one of my most performed works to date, to which I am very thankful. It’s a three-movement work with the tango rhythm used as the foundation of all three movements. While this work explores some of the different techniques for the violin, I wanted to explore the viola more exhaustively in this new work for solo viola. The Dances for Solo Viola are etudes in writing for viola as an individual voice. Each movement is modeled after a specific dance (and the rhythms and inflections that are associated with them), each with a distinctive character. The Dances for Solo Viola is dedicated to and written for Pedro Vizzarro-Vallejos.

According to the Shinto religion and general Japanese mythology, Raijin is the demon god of thunder.  A red skinned, horned and tusked sky god, typically depicted in the company of the wind god, Fuijin, and with taiko like drums swirling around him. Scored for solo percussion and centered on the drum set, the work expands the otherwise expected percussive timbres with the addition of various metallic instruments, picked individually by the performer. In an even further break from traditional repertoire, a small mallet or keyboard instrument is also included to play the obsessive and repetitive melodic figure prominent at the beginning and end of the work. After a wash of metallic sounds representing thunder rolling in from the distance, Raijin emerges with a ravenous heartbeat as the timbre moves from metallic sounds to the drum set. While improvisation is not at the heart of this work, there remains a section for the performer to work in his own rhythmic ideas over a set pattern. With such flexibility in both the notated score and instrumental choice, each performance of Raijin is truly unique. 

The Extinction Series is a collection of small one to six-minute miniatures written for both vocal and instrumental soloists. Each movement is a musical obituary to an extinct animal on the ever-growing extinction list. The concept for this compositional constraint was developed in 2014, and is an indeterminate and likely never-ending work, as the list of extinct animals is already daunting, and it continues to add members yearly. The sheer volume of the series is a commentary on mankind's carelessly destructive tendencies and manifest destiny attitude towards other living creatures on this planet. With this thought in mind, the composer has chosen to embark on a piece that can never be completed without the necessary reversal of our outlook on the environment and our impact on it. In regard to the presentation of the work, the soloist is encouraged to choose multiple individual movements as applicable for a performance or recording. Works can be freely ordered at the performer's discretion. In this first year, there are 10 completed movements of the collection, which are written for solo 'cello, solo piano, and solo percussion. The composer is planning on continuing her work on the series every year, scheduling performances and recordings of the works as they are completed.