News
After Flora for String Quartet and Soprano premiered last January, 2024, and following the full orchestra version of Energy, I wrote for solo (Adagio for Violin, Materials, Variazioni per Violino), and duo (Four movements for Violin and Cello, Lament for Gaza), while working on Tell es-Sakan, a large project for string quartet and percussion. An additional composition, If I Must Die, Let It Be a Tale, for soprano and flute, stands out. With lyrics after a poem by the late Palestinian writer and scholar Refaat Alareer, it is profoundly tragic, given the fate that befell the author, yet it manages, like the poem, to retain a glimmer of hope.
Upcoming Concerts
Motivated by the current war in Gaza, Tell es-Sakan is a protest, pacifist, concert-length piece for string quartet and percussion. Intended as a ballet, motivated by the current war in Gaza, and named after the oldest known settlement in the area, it follows on one side a couple that meets, falls in love, vows trust to each other, and on the other the War Machine, an ominous presence that eventually takes over in a fury of destruction. Listen to excerpts of the piece here. March 15, 2025, CMC, San Francisco. Buy tickets in advance here.
A more 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. March 8, 2025. Center for New Music, San Francisco.
Music Scores
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Teaching
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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.