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The intent of my master's thesis is two-fold. First, I wanted to present a largescale work for orchestra that showcased the skills and craft I have developed as a composer (and orchestrator) to date. Secondly, since my goal as a composer is to work in Hollywood as a film composer, I wanted my large-scale work to function as a film score, providing the emotional backbone and highlighting action for a major motion picture. In order to achieve this, I needed a film that was both larger-than-life and contained, in my opinion, an easily replaceable score (or no score at all). After considering and viewing several different films of various genres, the 1956 MGM sci-fi classic Forbidden Planet seemed to be the perfect choice.

Theseus and the Minotaur is a four movement, through-composed chamber work for flute, clarinet, violin, viola, cello, and double bass. The work explores elements of fear, chaos, love, and aggression.

The following piece is a three movement, twenty minute orchestral work in a Romantic style whose primary goals are accessibility and beauty. In the process of writing this piece, I learned that strong and memorable melodies are the key to a successful composition - taking influence from Henry Mancini and early Japanese video game composers, this work takes a central melodic theme through a series of variations to demonstrate the power of harmonic and orchestrational recontextualization. Rhythmically, the work utilizes techniques from the Minimalist and Progressive Rock traditions to strike a balance between rhythmic complexity and melodic focus. The three movements are meant to represent three steps towards self-actualization - Explore depicts curiosity and open-mindedness, Engage demonstrates the merits of focusing on one's craft, and Wonder represents the value of feeling awe towards the world even if it is not easy or simple. Ultimately, the work moves through a wide variety of moods and textures throughout its duration while staying focused on the central theme until the end, with the goal of creating a listening experience that is both rich and memorable.

Riccardo Formosa has been identified as being an important and widely recognised young Australian composer. Formosa's possession of a sophisticated composition technique is central to his approach to composition and to his reputation among contemporary composers. Vertigo: Riccardo Formosa's Composition Technique aims to define the composition technique employed by Formosa. It does so by analysing the works from a number of clearly defined perspectives. The study proceeds firstly through a description of the works as a whole and their relationship to the composer’s personal history. Secondly, the note-to-note operations Formosa has employed are reassembled through a detailed examination of the scores. Thirdly, an assessment is made of the function of the various techniques within the musical texture. Lastly, a number of comparisons are made between Formosa’s work and the work of his compositional models. The study concludes that Formosa’s works show evidence of a composition technique operating effectively on different levels. The note-to-note processes, simple in themselves, are multiplied to form a complex counterpoint. On both the note-to-note level and the relationship between larger sections of the works, the controlling factor was found to be one of ‘binary expression’ in the form of symmetry or complementarity, a compositional aesthetic also held by Formosa's teacher. Franco Donatoni.

Composition for piano.

This dissertation contains seven works from the last 5 years, from solo works to large ensemble, as well as works with electronics. Composing for me is the result of an imaginative attitude, an alert intuition and a suitable use of technique. It originates from reality, followed by singling out one or more musical ideas, and ends up, as Gustav Mahler puts it, in "building a new world with every available technical means." What drives my compositional interests, and represents the core of the works presented here, is the desire to shape and reify these musical worlds. I strive to find and detail the qualities of these worlds through an approach to composition that is based on "sculpting" gestures, figures and colors, contextualized in a form that is as controlled and thoughtful as possible. I also pursue a distinctive vision of the relationship between microtonal and tempered harmony, mixing the two in a harmonic domain that produces an extremely attractive and worth exploring musical ambiguity, enriched by a systematic approach to timbre. This dissertation offers different examples on this exploration, where musical parameters from an ever-changing palette as well as extra-musical element such as visual arts and literature contribute in offering an image of the gradual unfolding of my "voice," a search that is the core of my daily composing and represents a never-ending process. N.B. One of the works, Winds, is a solo electronic multi-channel soundfile, and a paper version of the works does not exist and cannot be included. / Music

This treatise, A musical analysis of The abyss suite, examines the musical underpinnings of an original three-movement work for jazz orchestra. Each movement musically represents a certain period of time occurring over the course of an emotional ordeal in my life. Through the incorporation and manipulation of certain musical elements--form, melody, harmony, and other compositional devices--this piece serves as a wordless narrative of that ordeal. The analysis will address each of these elements in turn. / text

High-resolution Fourier spectra in the 0.9-2.5 μm region were measured for sixteen asteroids. These data were combined with 0.3-1.1 μm spectrophotometry and 3.0-3.5 μm narrowband photometry for compositional analysis. Comparison spectra of meteorites and terrestrial minerals were measured in the laboratory, some under simulated asteroidal conditions of pressure and temperature. Spectra of eleven representative S-type asteroids show a range of olivine/pyroxene ratios overlapping those of ordinary and carbonaceous chondrites, but not approaching those of common differentiated meteorite types. The reddening in the asteroid spectra implies the presence of metallic iron, but if the metal is finely divided its abundance could be low. S-type asteroids have spectra most consistent with undifferentiated compositions, and some of them, especially 8 Flora, could be ordinary chondrite parent bodies. 4 Vesta and 349 Dembowska are unusual asteroids which have spectra resembling those of achondritic meteorites. Vesta has a pyroxene-feldspar mineralogy intermediate in composition between eucrites and howardites. If shergottite-like basalts are present, they must be in low abundance. Dembowska has an olivine-pyroxene mineralogy similar in some ways to ordinary chondrites, but there is considerable evidence that it is actually a fragment of the mantle of a differentiated Vesta-like parent body. The most diagnostic spectral feature seen on three low-albedo asteroids is the 3 μm band due to water of hydration. 1 Ceres must consist mostly of a low-iron clay mineral with some hydrated salts. 2 Pallas has a low abundance of hydrated minerals relative to Ceres, with the bulk of its composition being anhydrous iron-free silicates. 324 Bamberga probably contains clay minerals, but its spectrum is dominated by abundant magnetite. These and other C-type asteroids have surface compositions consistent with massive aqueous alteration of primary carbonaceous chondrite minerals. These results all indicate that the compositions of main belt asteroids are more closely related to the compositions of meteorites than was previously believed. S-type and C-type asteroids are undifferentiated assemblages of which ordinary and carbonaceous chondrites are an incomplete sample. Differentiated meteorites could be derived from the other relatively rare asteroid types.