Featured Compositions
WORK
Orchestra
Op. 11 - The Albatross and the Seal, for jazz sextet
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Op. 40 - Eisegesis, for large orchestra (2025)
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Op. 43 - Konvergence: Peak, Expanse, Aether, for large orchestra (2026)
- Written for the 2025 Ningde Call for Scores
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Solo Instrumental
Chamber
Op. 6 - String Quartet No. 1, Cobalt (2019)​​
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Op. 25 - Conscious Streams, for pierrot ensemble (2022)
- Written for the 2022 Brevard Summer Music Festival
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Op 30 - Reflections from the Player, for baritone voice and piano (2023)
- Commissioned by Andre Chiang​​
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Op. 33 - Solar Sonata, Voyager, for mixed chamber ensemble (2024)
- Commissioned by the 2023-34 MSM Tactus Chamber Ensemble
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Op. 34 - String Quartet No. 2, Tungsten (2024)
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Electronic/
Electroacoustic
Konvergence: Peak Expanse, Aether, Op. 43
Date Composed: February - March 2026 | Duration: 5 min.
Instrumentation: Large Orchestra
Commissioner: 2025 Ningde Call for Scores
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Program Notes:
Writing for the Ningde Composition Camp’s first call for scores, I was inspired by the folklore behind the region’s iconic Mount Taimu. The distinctive granite outcrops at the mountain’s peak have significance in local folklore and legend: they are a sacred place where deities gather and the earth, sea, and sky are united. As I wrote Konvergence, I mused on this idea of different worlds colliding and found a correlation to both my studies in Gnostic theology as well as my recent compositional endeavors. In Gnosticism, gnosis is the process of uncovering spiritual truth, usually played out over a lifetime. Meanwhile, epignosis is the single, pivotal moment where one’s understanding of spirituality and the universe clicks into place. The primary theme for Konvergence, what I call the “Epignosis Theme” is an amalgamation of many past themes of mine, namely from my second string quartet, my piano suite, and my chamber sonata. This theme represents the singular moment where my past, present, and future musical selves are connected through the past themes closest to my heart. And much like how earth, sea, and sky come together in sacred harmony on Mount Taimu, my musical and spiritual explorations are united in this piece, a moment of convergence at one peak in my musical journey.
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Premiere: April 2nd, 2026
Hong Yin, conductor
Hangzhou Philharmonic
Ningde, China
A Prog Pre-Postlude for Organ, Op. 42
Date Composed: June 2021 - January 2026 | Duration: 9 min.
Instrumentation: Organ
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Movements:
I - Lonesome View from Aphelion
II - Apsis
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Program Notes:
Several musical concepts were rattling around in my head while writing my first piece for organ. First, there is the idea of a prelude and postlude combined into a single genre, with either movement capable of functioning as the prelude or postlude depending on the context of the performance. Next, the harmony and rhythms of progressive rock continue to cast a long shadow over music and this piece, particularly in the second movement. Finally, the “Gnosis” theme from my orchestral work Eisegesis makes a cameo in the first movement, at the point that the organ appears to be striving toward some hidden truth.
As far as the movement titles are concerned, I often reference astronomy in my pieces. I’ve been reading a lot lately about the notion of apsis, when an astronomical body is at its closest (perihelion) or furthest (aphelion) point from the sun. For the first movement, I imagined myself on a distant world, gazing out at the faint speck of light shining in the darkness. Meanwhile, the second movement represents the totality of the complex orbital mechanics that guide a planet as it hurdles through space.
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Premiere: March 23rd, 2026
Yuanning Gao, organ
Auer Hall, Indiana University (Jacobs School of Music)
Bloomington, IN
Vortex, Op. 41
Date Composed: September - October 2025 | Duration: 4 min.
Instrumentation: 2 or 4-channel Playback
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Program Notes:
Having grown up in “Dixie Alley” during some of the worst tornado outbreaks in history, it was only a matter of time before I wrote a piece like Vortex. I have been fascinated with weather, especially twisters, since I could talk. During Hurricane Ivan in 2004 and the 2011 Super Outbreak, my family spent much of our time in an interior closet, which was the closest thing we had to a basement. Despite having heard and felt many twisters during those years, I never actually saw one with my own eyes. That changed earlier this year when I had a front-row seat to the EF2 tornado that struck south of Bloomington on May 16th. Tornado sirens screeching, suction vortices passing around the main circulation, the storm lifting only to suddenly re-cycle stronger than before, and the iconic, subsonic freight train roar: Vortex is an all-too-real account of what it’s like to be in the path of a twister. And as anyone who’s been affected by one of these monsters from the sky can attest, audio can only approximate the terror they strike into our hearts.
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Premiere: November 3rd, 2025
Ford-Crawford Hall, Indiana University (Jacobs School of Music)
Bloomington, IN
Eisegesis, Op. 40
Date Composed: November 2024 - October 2025 | Duration: 13 min.
Instrumentation: Large Orchestra
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Program Notes:
Eisegesis is the process of interpreting a text, usually a religious one, by introducing one’s own ideas, biases, or presuppositions into it, rather than drawing meaning out of the text itself (exegesis). Typically, it is a negative practice, as it is highly subjective and can lead to distortion of the text to support an agenda. However, I’ve decided to take a different approach in using the word.
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In recent years, I’ve noticed a dramatic uptick in people using Christianity to justify hatred and selfishness. By drawing on faith to normalize bigotry, these people are committing arguably the worst form of eisegesis. I was raised Episcopalian in Alabama, and I still consider myself to be a very religious person. But a significant portion of modern Christianity is so far removed from the way I was raised that I no longer rely on it to meet my spiritual needs. In absence of organized religion, I have developed a personal form of spirituality, drawing on concepts from offshoot Christian movements such as Gnosticism, along with other religions. And one of the most important components of this newfound spirituality is music.
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Despite all of the twists and turns in life, music has continued to be my guiding force. It has shown me the beauty in life when things seemed their most grim. In writing Eisegesis, I am defining the role that music plays in my faith and inserting myself into the vast world of the Gnostic tradition. The piece represents this musically by drawing from three important pieces of mine: my second string quartet, Tungsten, my Solar Sonata, Voyager, and my Piano Suite No. 1, Arcadia. As I work my way through the material from these pieces, I learn more about the world, music, my faith, and myself. The journey toward gnosis, or spiritual truth, is a lifelong one, and I’ve only just begun.
Eisegesis is paired with a poem of the same name that represents the piece’s narrative drama; the two frequently correspond in terms of content. Each stanza is associated with a large-scale section in the piece, and many lines in the poem are drawn from the piece’s section titles. While the poem sheds light on my personal intentions, it is not a necessary read. Listeners are welcome to commit a little eisegesis of their own and forgo the poem to draw their own conclusions regarding the piece’s meaning. Eisegesis was written as my dissertation in partial fulfillment of a D.M. in composition from Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music.​
Gnostic Fantasy and Postlude for Guitar, Op. 39
Date Composed: February - April 2025 | Duration: 8 min.
Instrumentation: Electric/Classical Guitar
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Movements:​
I - Pneumatic Corruption (Fantasy)
II - Yaldabaoth's Apotheosis (Postlude)
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Program Notes:
I’ve been fascinated with the guitar since a young age: rock and heavy metal were the main motivators in my decision to learn the instrument. As such, my first piece for solo guitar must pay tribute to my heavy metal influences, specifically Opeth and death metal. The quasi-religious theming of the piece is comparable to Opeth’s gothic ambience and the macabre elements in death metal.
The Gnostic Fantasy and Postlude also continues my deep dive into the offshoot branches of Christian theology, particularly Gnosticism. I am fascinated by the figure of Yaldabaoth: a flawed god called the Demiurge that creates the material world and is the source of all evil. Catharism, a Gnostic movement that originated in Southern Europe between the 12th and 14th centuries, famously believed that Satan and the Demiurge were one and the same. As such, I tried to imagine a Paradise Lost-style mythology where Lucifer’s fall from grace imbues him with divinity and transforms him into Yaldabaoth. This paradoxical fall/apotheosis is reflected in the fantasy’s descent into heavy metal brutality, followed by a melancholic postlude that reprises the fantasy’s middle section.
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Premiere: May 7th, 2025
Diego Fernandez Arraya, guitar
McCalla School, Indiana University
Bloomington, IN
Boötes Ballata, Op. 38
Date Composed: December 2024 - January 2025 | Duration: 5 min.
Instrumentation: Oboe, Viola, Harp
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Program Notes:
This piece is a meditation on the medieval ballata (poetic/musical form), the Boötes Void (one of the largest empty regions in the universe), and my Solar Sonata, Voyager. It takes the form of the ballata (AbbaA) and assigns different musical sections/key areas to each letter. These sections then correspond to the lines of the poem of the same name, which explains the programmatic aspect of the piece. In many ways, the launching of the Voyager space probes (with their Golden Records on board) and our SETI program can be seen as “cries” that may or may not ever be heard by anyone. The universe is incomprehensibly vast, and it is only growing larger. There is a small chance that, because of the magnitude of the distances involved, our planet Earth and our species are all we’ll ever know.
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Premiere: February 27th, 2025
Corinne Foley, oboe
Noah Morsi, viola
Leland Conrad, harp
Wesley Thompson, Doctoral Recital
Auer Hall, Indiana University (Jacobs School of Music)
Bloomington, IN
Four Eschatological Études for Piano, Op. 35
Date Composed: November 2023 - November 2024 | Duration: 14 min.
Instrumentation: Solo Piano
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Program Notes:
Piano music has always been my preferred vehicle for both musical experimentation and commentary on life. I recently noticed that I write these large-scale, reflective, piano-centric pieces at pivotal moments of change, beginning with my Piano Suite No. 1, Arcadia, at the end of my undergraduate studies. These reflective pieces are usually a collation of compositional styles/techniques I’ve been working with up to that point and are frequently themed around humanity and/or the end of the world.
In many ways, these études (alternatively known as Four Thematic Études) represent the culmination of this trend in my writing: a set of experimental piano pieces that tells a semi-programmatic story about the end of the world, hence the reference to eschatology, the theological study of the apocalypse. However, while these new études have their fair share of reflection and looking back (including some direct references to the past), they differ from previous endeavors in their embracing of a new sense of groove and harmony that is a refreshing look forward. A lot has happened on my compositional journey already, and yet there is still so much music to write and life to experience.
A summary of the études’ programmatic narrative: the seven seals are broken, the seven trumpets sound, and humanity struggles in the aftermath of disaster. In their desperation, they turn toward a powerful figure, a Beast emerging from the sea, who guides them down the path to sin. The forces of good and evil clash as the seven bowls of God’s wrath are poured out in response to the Beast and its followers. Evil is defeated and condemned to eternal torment, while the virtuous are lifted into the clouds of the sea of years and reunited with figures from their past, with all voices joining together in eternal harmony.
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Premiere: February 27th, 2025
Miles Swaminathan, piano
Tarje Grover, piano
Edoardo Lenza, piano
Wesley Thompson, piano
Wesley Thompson, Doctoral Recital
Auer Hall, Indiana University (Jacobs School of Music)
Bloomington, IN
String Quartet No. 2, Tungsten, Op. 34
Date Composed: March - June 2024 | Duration: 9 min.
Instrumentation: String Quartet
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Movements:
I - Freely; dark and brooding
II - Smoothly; reflective and melancholic
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Program Notes:
Back in 2018, I wrote my first string quartet, dubbed Cobalt, as a nod to my heavy metal influences. My life and my compositional voice have changed considerably since then, but, despite that, heavy metal has remained a stalwart fixture in my musical world. And yet because of the changes in my life, the way that I listen and respond to that same music now could not be more different than how I responded in 2018. As such, Tungsten is both a tribute to Cobalt as well as a new beginning: a spiritual successor and a radical departure. Because, while some things will undoubtedly remain constant in life, the way that we respond to life is always changing as we grow older and expand our horizons.
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Premiere: July 20th, 2024
Henry Rublein, violin
Kian Broderick, violin
Miles Fowler, viola
John Pablo Rojas, cello
Parker Concert Hall, Brevard Music Center
Brevard, NC
Solar Sonata, Voyager, Op. 33
Date Composed: September 2023 - February 2024 | Duration: 16 minutes
Instrumentation: Mixed Chamber Ensemble (9 players)​
Commissioner: 2023-2024 MSM Tactus Chamber Ensemble
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Movements:
I - Grand Tour (Overture)
II - Kuiper
III - Termination Shock (Scherzo)
IV - Scattered
V - ISM (Outro)
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Program Notes:
During the height of the space race in the 1960s and 70s, NASA was presented with a rare opportunity that only occurs once every 175 years: the outer planets had aligned in such a way that a spacecraft could use their gravity to slingshot between each planet in a single trip. Not wanting to miss an opportunity to finally visit the largest and most distant members of our solar system, the Voyager 1 and 2 space probes were launched in 1977 and flew by Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, taking plenty of iconic pictures of the gas giants and their moons along the way.
With their primary mission complete, the two Voyager probes embarked on a new, far more uncertain path: they were to leave the solar system and cross into interstellar space. And in 2012, they were successful, with Voyager 1 cementing its status as the most distant manmade object from Earth. This monumental moment in human scientific advancement led me to ponder what it truly means to leave our solar system, and what it would be like for any human to undergo such a voyage. Thus, the Solar Sonata was born: a dramatized musical account of the one-way passage into the endless void between the stars. For our fictional astronaut, the journey is quite exciting and filled with many cosmic wonders: the dark, frozen worlds of the Kuiper Belt, the termination shock that marks the end of our sun’s energetic influence, and the interstellar medium itself. But for the Voyager probes, their signal growing weaker and more distant by the day, the reality is unfathomably cold, empty, and lonely. Yet forever they sail on into the infinite.
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Premiere: April 12th, 2024
2023-2024 MSM Tactus Chamber Ensemble
Neidorff-Karpati Hall, Manhattan School of Music.
New York, NY​​​
Reflections from the Player, Op. 30
Date Composed: February 2022 - May 2023 | Duration: between 14 and 16 min.
Instrumentation: Baritone Voice and Piano
Commissioner: Andre Chiang
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Songs:
I - Mythos
II - …Where My Heart Is
III - Choices
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Program Notes:
Video games are pretty cool. Many of my favorite games are as important to me and my development as an artist as my favorite books, movies or even pieces of music. This work pays homage to three of my favorite video games (The Legend of Zelda, Animal Crossing, and Undertale, respectively) by creating a musical tableaux of my
experiences with video games as a whole.
The first song in the cycle, Mythos, channels the epic fantasy atmosphere and vibe of The Legend of Zelda’s soundtrack while exploring the idea of the Triforce and the interconnected relationship between franchise’s three main characters. Meanwhile, …Where My Heart Is uses the analogy of a train (common to the Animal Crossing series) to tackle the subject of dramatic life changes. Finally, Choices is an interactive piece with audience participation that mimics choose-your-own-adventure novels as well as RPGs like Undertale, its parent game.
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Partial Premiere: March 2nd, 2026
Andre Chiang, baritone
Brad Baker, piano
Gildenhorn Recital Hall, University of Maryland
College Park, MD
Piano Concerto No. 1, The Severed Thread, Op. ? (WIP)
Date Composed: April 2022 - ? | Duration: 10 minutes, projected 25-30 minutes
Instrumentation: Piano and Orchestra
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Movements:
I - Echo
II - Revelation
III - Respite (WIP)
IV - Silence (WIP)
V - Terminus (WIP)
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Program Notes:
The first two movements of my in-progress, five movement piano concerto. These works were written and performed as my master's thesis in fulfillment of an M.M. in Composition from Manhattan School of Music.
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"The Severed Thread" is a programmatic work that follows the narrative of the titular poem (written by me) and portrays the dark and twisted journey of an unnamed individual, represented by the solo piano, as they march inexorably to their own destruction. The poem and piece are loosely modeled on Elizabeth Kubler Ross’s five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance, with each stanza/movement corresponding to a different stage.
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Partial Premiere: February 24th, 2023
Elliot Roman, piano
Michael Adelson, conductor
MSM Philharmonia
Neidorff-Karpati Hall, Manhattan School of Music.
New York, NY
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Conscious Streams, Op. 25
Date Composed: June - July 2022 | Duration: 6 min.
Instrumentation: Pierrot Ensemble
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Movements:
I - Prelude (To a Question?)
II - Pavane (For a Dying Star)
III - Galliard (With a Shot of Espresso)
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Program Notes:
Conscious Streams experiments with unexpected and abrupt changes to mess with a listener's expectations in a (hopefully) humorous manner. Here is my program note for the piece:
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You know that thing that authors do where they just write out their thoughts in an endless stream without really thinking about what comes next and often they form very long run-on sentences or have sudden changes that don’t really make sense like BAM there’s a cat in my office and he’s chasing a grasshopper.
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I may or may not have just been playing Ravel’s Pavane pour une infante defúnte before I started this piece and I just really love that work and wanted to write my own pavane but then I got to thinking “well, I tend to write a lot of serious music and this is no different so what if I also tried to make the audience laugh” and then things got very Webern-y and when things get very Webern-y in a piece that is already pretty Ravel-y you know you’re in for an emotional rollercoaster so buckle up folks and get ready for a ride. Lettuce.
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Premiere: August 5th, 2022
Alex Tedrow, conductor
Alexandra McGuire, flute
Aaron Lipsky, clarinet
Noel Medford, violin
Elliot Wells, cello
Ting-Ting Yang, piano
Parker Concert Hall, 2022 Brevard Summer Music Festival
Brevard, NC
Deep Impact, Op. 23
Date Composed: March - April 2022 | Duration: approximately 5 min.
Instrumentation: Electric Guitar and 2 or 4-channel Playback
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Program Notes:
Deep impact was a NASA space probe launched in 2005 with the goal of studying the comet Tempel 1. The probe initiated a flyby in July of that year and deliberately launched an impactor which collided with the comet’s nucleus. It then began studying the composition of the space object while sending photographs back to Earth. This piece loosely follows the journey of the probe from launch to space travel to landing on the comet’s surface.
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Deep Impact uses pre-recorded guitar sounds in conjunction with live improvisation on various scales and pitch class sets. It is dedicated to my friend and fellow guitarist, Luis McDougal premiered it on April 4th, 2022, at Mikowsky Hall, Manhattan School of Music, in New York, NY.
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Premiere: April 4th, 2022
Luis McDougal, electric guitar
Mikowsky Hall, Manhattan School of Music
New York, NY
Surge, Op. 18
Date Composed: January 2021 | Duration: between 4 and 8 minutes
Instrumentation: Solo Cello
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Program Notes:
As a child, I practically grew up on the waters of Lake Martin in Alabama; meanwhile, I currently reside in the coastal town of Fairhope on Mobile Bay. These factors have contributed to my love for the water, and I still greatly enjoy spending time partaking in various aquatic activities such as fly fishing, kayaking, and tubing. With Surge, I decided to channel this passion into the concept for a piece where the cello follows the swells and lulls of the waves. The piece can be performed anywhere waves are present (including recorded waves in a concert hall!), and each time its character will nebulously undulate according to the tempestuous whims of the tides.
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Premiere: March 21st, 2022
Alan Hlozek, cello
Greenfield Hall, Manhattan School of Music
New York, NY
Piano Suite No. 1, "Arcadia," Op. 16
Date Composed: December 2019 - October 2020 | Duration: 25 minutes
Instrumentation: Solo Piano
Commissioner: Aaron Petit
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Movements:
I - Toccata (A Dream)
II - Canon (Arcadia)
III - Gigue (Hubris)
IV - Intermezzo (Wordless Lament)
V - Fugue (Machine)
VI - Corrente (Ruination)
VII - Sarabande (A Dirge)
VIII - Epilogue (Forgotten Dream/True Arcadia)
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Program Notes:
Written for Aaron Petit over the course of a chaotic year between 2019 and 2020, this piano suite was a massive undertaking that compiled all of the stylistic traits I developed during my undergraduate years into a singular, all-encompassing musical statement. A programmatic work, the suite confronts the literal and figurative repercussions of humans attempting to create the titular concept of “Arcadia,” or heaven/Eden, here on Earth.
The suite was written alongside a poem of the same name; this poem explains the narrative drama of the suite and the two frequently correspond in terms of content. Each movement is associated with one of the poem’s stanzas, and the secondary movement titles are drawn from the beginning of each stanza. Additionally, many musical elements share associations with passages and words within the poem. However, while the poem sheds light on my personal musical intentions, it is not a necessary read. Listeners are welcome to forgo the poem and draw their own conclusions regarding the suite’s meaning.
Piano Suite No. 1, “Arcadia,” is dedicated to the life and memory of my godmother, Sandra Simons, who passed away shortly before its completion.
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Premiere: March 27th, 2021
Aaron Petit, piano
Wesley Thompson, Senior Recital
Gusman Hall, University of Miami
Coral Gables, FL
The Albatross and the Seal, Op. 11
Date Composed: July 2019 - January 2020 | Duration: 14 min.
Instrumentation: Jazz Sextet and Chamber Orchestra
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Movements:
I - Passacaglia (The Albatross)
II - Fantasia (The Seal)
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Program Notes:
The Albatross and the Seal, written in 2020 for the Frost Stamps Scholarship ensembles’ yearly concert together, is an encapsulation of the best and worst aspects of undergraduate music school life. On one hand, there is the frenetic busyness, monotony, and stress that dominates a student’s daily life; this is illustrated by the loud and boisterous Passacaglia. On the other, there is the fear, uncertainty, and joy that comes with the goal of turning your passion into a profession; the Fantasia attempts to bring these complex feelings to life. Both movements have their own defining motives (the odd meter figure played by the brass at the beginning of the Passacaglia and the swelling gesture played by the woodwinds at the beginning of the Fantasia) that intrinsically tie these two states of being together via their presence throughout the complete work.
“Albatross” is often used as a synonym for stress and corresponds with the first movement. Meanwhile, in many seafaring cultures from modernity and history, seals symbolize dreams, creativity, and a willingness to let life take you where it will; this is represented by the second movement. Both animals are commonly found in the world’s southern oceans and depend on many of the same environmental conditions to survive, even though one is a bird and the other is a sea mammal. As such, they are the perfect figurative analog to the emotions embedded within the work’s core.
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Premiere: February 27th, 2020
Shawn Crouch, conductor
Shelly Berg, piano
Frost Stamps Brass Quintet 2020
Frost Stamps Jazz Quintet 2021
Frost Stamps String Quartet 2022
Frost Stamps Woodwind Quintet 2023
Gusman Hall, University of Miami
Coral Gables, FL
String Quartet No. 1, “Cobalt,” Op. 6
Date Composed: January 2019 - March 2019 | Duration: 4 min.
Instrumentation: String Quartet
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Program Notes:
A love letter to heavy metal music, this piece attempts to combine the genre’s rhythms, timbres, and gestures with neo-impressionist harmonies and an improvisatory flair. The result is a work featuring electric guitar-esque riffs and runs, extreme dynamic changes, and a healthy mix of both lyrical and screeching melodies. Extended techniques are utilized to mimic whammy bar dive bombs, death growls/shrieks, and amplifier feedback. Structurally, the work is organized in a pseudo-ternary form, with an extended coda at the end. However, each section was inspired by traditional metal songwriting ideas (intro, riff, verse, chorus, bridge, etc). The coda is a not-so-subtle attempt at a breakdown similar to something one might find in a metalcore song!
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Premiere: June 22nd, 2019
Plaza Midwood Tattoo
Charlotte, NC