COMPOSITIONS

NEFERTARI is a musical transmutation of Queen Nefertari’s tomb, a space designed as a liminal zone between worlds, a bridge between the physical and the spiritual. The three-movement, sixty-two-minute work for soprano, prepared piano, and sistrum is sung in ancient Egyptian - translated, transliterated, and vocalized for this project in a monumental effort in collaboration with Egyptologists Gonzalo Sánchez and Edmund Meltzer - from the hieroglyphs covering the walls of Nefertari’s tomb. 

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hAi m mwt(.i) nwt psS tn Hr.i

hʔai ɛm muti nut, pɛsɛʃ tɛn χɛri 

Descend, mother Nut, spread yourself over me,

di.t w(i) m ixmw sk im(yw).t

diɛt ui ɛm jiχɛmu sɛk jimjuɛt

so that you can place me among the eternal stars which are in you,

nn mt.(i) 

nɛn mɛti

and that I will not die […] 

Four songs for soprano and piano.

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as if we are not

a mirror image

of intelligent design,

as if our brains

are incapable

of infinite wisdom.

In Kindred Vibrations, I pay homage to Thoreau’s interest in the interplay of nature and sounds created by humans. The voice and flute echo, interweave, and dance with one another, while the piano creates a resonant soundscape within which their timbres intermingle and affect one another, creating new effects that will vary with each performance of the work. 

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January 13, 1857

It releases me; it bursts my bonds.... We hear the kindred vibrations, music! and we put out our dormant feelers unto the limits of the universe.

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— Henry David Thoreau

The Lorica of St. Patrick (The Deer's Cry), translated by Kuno Meyer.

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I arise today
Through the strength of heaven; Light of sun,
Radiance of moon,
Splendour of fire,
Speed of lightning,
Swiftness of wind,
Depth of sea,
Stability of earth,
Firmness of rock.

A solo transcription of David M. Gordon's "Fader, stilla våra andar."

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Father, give a tranquil spirit
As the day comes to its ending; Let the peace of higher places Still the woes of striving mankind. Let the vastness of the heavens Give our thoughts a loftier setting; Let the fever of possession
Pass in nobler aspiration.
Amen.

Five songs for baritone and piano.

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  She took my hand. My heart beat wild.
  She kissed my mouth. I bowed my head.
  Then gazing in my eyes, she smiled:
  "When did'st thou die?" she said.

A piano transcription of "At Midnight," from Sanchez' Gothic Atonement.

A song for soprano, baritone, double bass, and piano, on the poem of the same name by Madison Julius Cawein.

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Oh, my old Heart, what a life we have led,

Out in the wind and the rain!

How we have drunken and how we have fed!
Nothing to lose or to gain! —
Cover the fire now; get we to bed.
Long was the journey and far has it led:
Come, let us sleep, lass, sleep like the dead,
Out in the wind and the rain.

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​* also transcribed for soprano, baritone, and piano

Composed for the Isle of Palms First United Church Choir, Isle of Palms, South Carolina.

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Prone to wander, Lord I feel it,

prone to leave the God I love;

here's my heart, O take and seal it,

seal it for thy courts above.

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A song setting of the poem by Madison Julius Cawein for soprano, double bass, and piano.

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Here where the season turns the land to gold,
Among the fields our feet have known of old,
When we were children who would laugh and run,
Glad little playmates of the wind and sun

....

Heart of my heart, to you, whatever come,
To you the lead, whose love hath led me home.
Heart of my heart.

A song cycle on three poems of Li Ch'ing Chao, translated by Dr. Luke Taylor.

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This year at the Middle Kingdom’s edge,

My thin hair is streaked with white. N

ight comes, wind cries:
And now our plum blossoms have gone.

In loving memory of José Feghali. Its title is taken from Schumann’s last work for piano, the Thema mit Variationen, composed in February of 1854. Schumann believed that its theme had been offered to him directly by angels. 

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Porque agora vemos como por espelho, em enigma;

mas então veremos face a face.

In loving memory of Harlan Payne. 

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When my arms lift high, then you may see

Your reflection in my flaming looking glass

Like Alice you may fly right through it

To be changed and burned up at last

Composed for the Parkminster Church Choir, Rochester, New York.

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At that time I will gather you;

at that time I will bring you home.

Six song settings of Sappho, as translated by Sherod Santos.

Someone, I tell you, will remember us, even in another time.

Six song settings of Taliesin, as translated by W. F. Skene (1869) and John Gwenogvryn Evans (1915).

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When is best that has been.

A wife when she is lovely,

Milk when it is white,

When are red the hips,

Or a woman when restless,

When the night comes on.

What is the imagination of trees?

Six song settings of Robert Frost.

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The woods are lovely, dark and deep,

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

Premiered by Henry Charles Smith and the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra, 2006.