Triptych is a thirty-minute work in three movements for flute, clarinet, baritone saxophone, percussion and live electronics. Rhythmically intricate musical “tessellations” are juxtaposed with long, evolving drones amidst an electronic backdrop of environmental found sound, granular clouds, procedurally generated rhythmic sequences, and simple oscillators. The piece examines conceptions of pattern, pitch and period in the environment, highlighting the musical elements and structures of creatures and machines – the “almost-human” musical beings all around us. Each “panel” of the triptych is designed to work effectively as either a part of the larger work, or as its own, autonomous piece of music. The electronics are designed to maximize performability and improvisatory flexibility in the ensemble. All processing and cueing is coded in Max/MSP. Triptych was commissioned by the Fountain City Ensemble, and will be premiered in March, 2014. / text

Hearing Vvices is a four-movement instrumental work for clarinet, violin, cello and piano. The title is a reference to both the formal structure and surface features of the music. Structurally, the piece resembles a rhetorical struggle between two distinct musical personalities: the serious and the light. In each movement and across movements, this juxtaposition is evident through sudden changes in tempo, mood, and musical character. In terms of surface features, the trajectory of the piece is best described as the eventual emergence of melody from a dense web of counterpoint and rhythm where, over the course of the movements, small melodic fragments are presented and quickly swallowed up by the surrounding texture. This changes in the final movement, where three of the four instruments join in a soaring melody over a troubled accompaniment, thus illustrating the apotheosis of the preceding musical struggle. / text