News
The premiere of Tell es-Sakan (Hill of Ash) took place on March 15, 2025, in San Francisco, marking my most ambitious project to date. A concert-length protest and pacifist work, written for string quartet and percussion. Its composition took from late spring to early fall of 2024, with interruptions for the writing of If I Must Die, Let It Be a Tale, and several shorter works for solo (Adagio for Violin, Materials, Variazioni per Violino), and duo (Four Movements for Violin and Cello and Lament for Gaza). Earlier in the year, a work dear to my heart, the premiere of Flora, a gentle tale about the perils of the Anthropocene, for string quartet and soprano
Upcoming Concerts
Nel Tardo Mezzo – April 26, 2025, 8:00 pm, Center for New Music, 55 Taylor St, San Francisco. Buy tickets here.
An intimate piece, Nel Tardo Mezzo (In the Late Half), is a sort of musical confession written for soprano, clarinet, violin and cello. The lyrics employ “terza rima”, the poetic form favored by Dante Alighieri, exploring some of the doubts and anguish that may strike us at any stage of life. Despite its theme, the piece maintains a playful tone, offering a tongue-in-cheek nod to the monumental Divine Comedy.
Lagrangian Point – April 27, 2025, 2:00 pm, Center for New Music, 55 Taylor St, San Francisco. Buy tickets here.
Lagrangian Point is a short, lyrical hymn to Earth, inspired by Samantha Harvey’s novel Orbital, a dreamy work that follows six fictional astronauts aboard the low-orbiting International Space Station. Borrowing a similar narrative device, the composition features a fictional character observing the solar system from a Lagrangian Point — a stationary position in space. The piece shares some of Orbital’s philosophical motives: our gratitude for lovely Earth, its smallness in the cosmos, the perhaps surprising flourishing of life on it, and the force of “want” that seemingly drives life.
Music Scores
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Teaching
Looking for a composition or piano instructor? I teach both. Visit my teaching page for more details by clicking below.
Some Press
A review of String Quartet No.7, an asynchronous piece written during the COVID pandemic, can be found here. Alongside, you’ll find an extensive interview with Carolyn Howley, featuring detailed excerpts from The Sofa, for percussion quartet, and Aquamarinus, performed by the Berkeley Symphony.
… and in the Pipeline
Working on The Retraction, a set for soprano inspired by the confessions of Isobel Gowdie, a woman accused of witchcraft in early 17th-century Scotland.