I am delighted to announce that I have been appointed the new director of the Harvard Group for New Music (HGNM)! I am honored for the opportunity to arrange and produce concerts that are so meaningful to myself, my colleagues, and the greater Harvard and Boston/Cambridge communities. We have some exciting projects lined up for next year that I cannot wait to share with you all.
Be sure to check out hgnm.org for updates and follow us on IG.
I write this from Basel, Switzerland, where spring is in full motion. I will be participating in a symposium at the Hochschule für Musik Basel organized by Johannes Kriedler, called Kunst der Kunstlehre: Wie Komponieren unterrichtet wird (The Art of Art Teaching: How Composing is Taught. On Sunday, 14 April at 11:30 I will speak on my experiences in learning and (unlearning) composition.
Additionally, on Monday, 15 April, Zone Expérimentale Basel will perform my piece composed for them this year, sun-stilled, alongside works by my colleagues at Harvard University.
What a fabulous week it was to work with the musicians of Zone Expérimentale Basel, a group of students at the Hochschüle fur Musik Basel, led by Yaron Deutsch. As part of their residency, I worked with the group extensively over the course of a week to hone my new piece written for the group, entitled sun-stilled. The piece is inspired by a bit of text from Nina MacLaughlin’s book Winter Solstice: An Essay
“The year is fading. Light is fading. Solstice means sun-stilled. It’s a wild sort of stilling, a thrashing, frenzied sort of stilling, a de-metering, a holding of the breath as the tension builds, as the darkness expands, until it cracks and the light drives in. That’s the hope.”
The ensemble, conducted by the incredible Friederike Scheunchen, navigated the score with grace and care under her direction. The openness and receptivity of the group was energizing and inspiring.
The piece was premiered on March 27, 2024. As part of an exchange, I will be traveling to Basel to meet again with this group for an additional performance in Basel on April 15. In addition, I will be participating in a symposium hosted by Johannes Kriedler, entitled The Art of Art Teaching: How Composition is Taught. I will be speaking on Sunday, April 14 to share my experiences as a composition student and how I plan to drive the world of composition teaching down the road.
Audio and video documentation is forthcoming.
In February this year, I had the wonderful opportunity with Broken Frames Syndicate to bring flowers which bloom from blackened earth and poisoned air to life. Through a residency with HGNM, we worked together to bring vitality, breath, and movement into a piece which demands keen attention and a fluid flowing of energy throughout long durations.
I’m very happy to share the video of the premiere on February 2, 2024 below, along with an image of the aftermath of dinner among new friends.
I am happy to share the video of the premiere of threshold of our fragile body, commissioned and magically performed by Lamnth. Having taken time and space away from the piece, listening to it again I found myself both pleasantly surprised and curious. Take a listen below.
Last week I was pleased to attend the premiere of my new work threshold of our fragile body, commissioned and premiered by Lamnth! Nick and Lilit performed beautifully. The piece was premiered at Boston Conservatory’s Suelly Hall.
Recording and video is forthcoming.
At the end of September and beginning of October, I was honored to travel to the Brazilian region of the Pantanal through the invitation and initiation of cellist and researcher William Teixeira to participate in several days of field recordings, sound walks, and immersion in the Pantanal. The Pantanal is the worlds largest wetland area, and serves a vital role in the local and global ecosystems. The experience of being in this incredible place was enriching, informative, meditative, and challenging.
The project is spearheaded by William Teixeira, who is a professor at the Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul (UFMS) in Campo Grande. My travel to Brazil is the first step in a collaborative project which centers on the vibrant sounds of the Pantanal, and will culminate in a new multimedia work to be premiered by Ensemble Cerrado in Campo Grande in the summer of 2024.
We spent a few days in Campo Grande before embarking to the UFMS research base along the Miranda River, and William performed a concert of works for solo cello and electronics on September 28, including my piece contaminant composed earlier this year in collaboration with William. From Monday until Thursday evening a team of artists and scholars organized by William accumulated field recordings of the unique ecosystems of the Pantanal. On Wednesday, October 4 we additionally made contact with the Terena community indigenous to the area, learning from them about their ways of life, understanding, and connection to each other and to the land.
We woke at 4 each morning to record at sunrise — the most breathtaking breaking of sunlight into day I’ve ever seen.
I am eager to utilize my recordings, videos, and experiences to inform my new work for Ensemble Cerrado that celebrates the ecological diversity of the Pantanal region.
From left: Victor Arul, myself, Hans Tutschku, William Teixeira
Last month, on October 15th, I was pleased to premiere my new work for bassoon and electronics, rift-haze, written for the incredible Ben Roidl-Ward. Ben participated in a residency with the Harvard Group for New Music (HGNM), joining us on campus for a week of rehearsal and collaboration, culminating in a concert of solo bassoon works composed by members of HGNM as well as an impovisation featuring Ben and including members of HGNM, including myself (cello), Jonah Haven (piano), and Victor Arul (electronics).
The recording and video footage is forthcoming.
I am honored to have been invited to be featured as composer-in-residence with the .abeceda new music ensemble for their annual festival at Lake Bled in Slovenia in June of 2023.
A new piece WOLF for violin, viola, cello, alto sax, prepared harp, and electronics was premiered by members of .abeceda on June 26 at Bled Castle, following a pre-concert talk during which I discussed my musical and compositional origins, my relationship to this piece, and my experiences working with this ensemble. A piece for solo cello, bluet (i): aporia written in 2020 was also performed by Urban Megušar on the same concert.
Later in the week, on June 29, a recently completed work for solo cello and tape, contaminant, was performed by Urban at the Festival Hall in Bled, following a pre-concert talk.
I was quite honored to be in community with such passionate and inspiring artists, and I am eager to share recordings and videos of the performances.
I am so pleased to announce that my first portrait album, v e i l, has been released under Sawyer Editions ran by Kory Reeder.
The album itself features works composed and recorded in 2021, and includes a brand new recording of bluet (i): aporia by cellist Urban Megûsár. Having worked extensively with Urban on this recording, it is my absolute pleasure to finally be able to release it to the public. His interpretation and understanding of the piece is unparalleled, and is immediately clear from the moment it begins.
The album also features c a s c a d e s, a work for string quartet and electronics that tackles the impossible conceptualization of the environmental biofeedback loops relating to climate change.
In February 2022, v e i l was listed as one of the best of bandcamp’s experimental genres by Peter Margasak.
V e i l is available for purchase on bandcamp.
This morning, Monday, February 8, 2021, I awoke to a beautiful day in Seattle—the sun is shining uncharacteristically for this time of year, and as I opened my kitchen window I was grateful to breathe in cool, crisp air. As I began my morning routine, which often includes listening to NPR, as I did this morning, my sense of wonder and gratitude turned quickly into dread.
Read MoreIf you’ve interacted with me over the past several years, I have probably done (or not done) something to an extent that you may have wondered if I was unwell. You would have been correct.
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