Written for Bergamot Quartet, in collaboration with CNSNC Collective and the Space Telescope Science Institute.

Performed by Bergamot Quartet on November 16, 2020. 
Recorded, mixed, and mastered by Andrew Bohman.

This project is supported in part by the Maryland State Arts Council, the Jersey City Arts Council, and the Awesome Foundation.

About this piece:
"Dark matter is one of the Hubble Space Telescope’s most fascinating discoveries. In 1998, when the HST observed supernovae found at the edge of the universe, its observations showed that contrary to commonly held theories at the time, the expansion of the universe is not slowing down, but is actually accelerating at a rapid rate. The existence of dark matter and dark energy is one possible theory that was created to explain the acceleration of the universe. Dark matter is theorized to be a sort of energy-fluid that, along with dark energy, comprises more than 95% of the entire universe. In addition, because of how dark matter has been observed indirectly through the formation of galaxy clusters, we know that dark matter dictates the structure of the formation of the universe itself. 

The concept of an invisible force that completely surrounds us and is responsible for everything we know is an incredibly profound idea to me, and I hope this piece conveys the tremendous awe and wonder I feel while contemplating the existence of dark matter."

Avatar courtesy of Bobby Ge and CNSNC Collective.

Dark Mysteries, for string quartet (2020)

Written for CNSNC Collective's album "The Ocean's Cry". 

Recorded and premiered by:
Robert Brown, saxophone
Ben Giroux, percussion
Sherry Du, piano

Recorded, mixed, and mastered by Edward Tetreault

The light, the sea, and the forest below (2022)

Written for Huizi Zhang and the CNSNC Collective. 

Recorded at Oktaven Audio in Mt Vernon, NY on March 29, 2023.

Premiered on April 9, 2023 at Scholes Street Studio, Brooklyn, NY.


I wrote this short piano song during the holiday season of 2022, when Christmas and Hanukkah were marked by a brief period of extremely intense, cold weather. Being away from my family during this time, I was reminded of how the holidays are a time of joy and celebration for some, but also a time of sadness and loneliness for others. I lit Hanukkah candles this year, and remembered their significance as a symbol of hope and optimism in the face of doubt, fear and uncertainty. On the eighth night of Hanukkah (which, this year, coincided with Christmas Day!), in the darkness of winter, all nine candles shone together with an intense, bright light, as if to say,

“The night will pass. The seasons will change. You are not alone. You are loved.”

(January 2023)

A flame in the freezing cold (2023)

Friendship is a wonderful thing, when you have good people surrounding you, who you can rely on not only in good times, but when times also get tough. This piano piece is dedicated to my friends, who have helped me through many of the highs and lows in my life, for whom I am eternally grateful.

Avatar image courtesy of Dreamstime Stock Photos (via Creative Commons).

When spring comes again (2021)

An Open Heart [Theme for Arianelle Lyons] (2025)

Premiered in full at the University of Delaware Composition Recital on April 15, 2015. Recorded by John Palmer. Avatar image courtesy of John Palmer.

Amelia Baronowsky, flute
Thomas Kuchler, baritone

About this piece:

One of Emily Dickinson’s more well-known poems, "I had no time to hate" addresses some of humanity’s greatest fears in two short stanzas: the passage of time, and our own mortality. The nature of time is terrifying – everyone thinks that there is so much time to do everything they want to do, but days and weeks pass in the blink of an eye, and often so do years and decades, and even entire lifetimes. Humans have so little time in this world, and so much power to change it, that we have an obligation to share our love with the people around us, and to leave the world a better place than when we entered it. 

Text:
"I had no time to hate, because
the grave would hinder me,
and life was not so ample I
could finish enmity.

Nor had I time to love, but since
some industry must be,
the little toil of love, I thought,
was large enough for me."

"I had no time to hate", for flute and baritone voice (2015)

Premiered by Christiana Winds on May 2, 2016.

Third Place Winner of the 2016 American Prize in Composition, Student Chamber Music division.

Eileen Grycky, flute
Jeffrey O'Donnell, oboe
Christopher Nichols, clarinet
John David Smith, horn
Lynn Moncilovich, bassoon

About this piece:

CW: Rape, sexual violence.

I had a deep fascination with Greek mythology while I was growing up, and the various heroes and monsters that fill these ancient stories. I first read of the Gorgon sister Medusa in the story of Perseus, the hero who is sent by King Polydectes on what was thought to be a suicide mission to retrieve Medusa's head. With the aid of the gods, Perseus is successful in killing and beheading her.

However, I did not know that there was more to Medusa’s story until I stumbled across her origin story in college. Medusa was the most beautiful woman in all of Greece, and many suitors eagerly sought her hand in marriage. This came to an abrupt and shocking end when Medusa was raped in the temple of Athena by Poseidon. Athena, in her anger over the perceived defilement of her temple, cursed Medusa so that she would become the ugliest woman in all of Greece. Snakes grew out of her hair and her appearance was so vile that anyone who dared to look at her face would instantly turn to stone, and soon after she was banished to a nearby island where she would live out the rest of her days in isolation. Several would-be heroes arrived to try and slay her, but only Perseus was successful in doing so.

The way Medusa was treated by Athena, the gods, and the people of Greece is all too present in our modern-day society, where women who survive sexual assault are often blamed for the trauma that they have endured, while the men who carried out the crime go unpunished. We cannot ignore these crimes any longer, and we cannot continue to brush it off by saying “boys will be boys.” We must believe survivors, even at the expense of friendships we once held dear. For, if you suffered something as awful and humiliating as an act of sexual violence at the hands of someone you once trusted, wouldn’t you be as angry as Medusa?

Please consider making a donation to RAINN (Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network): https://donate.rainn.org/?_ga=2.44210404.1593570807.1560806424-224018787.1560806424.

Avatar image: "Medusa", by Caravaggio (1595)

Medusa, for wind quintet (2015)

Arranged for the University of Delaware Pep Band for their 2016-17 season, playing for the University of Delaware basketball teams. Conducted by James Ancona, director.
​
Each year, students that participate in the University of Delaware Pep Band are invited to arrange songs for the pep band to perform at the home games for the UD men's and women's basketball teams. (The band does not travel to away games, except for the tournament games). I was fortunate enough to have been allowed to arrange Sweet Caroline for the band, a timeless classic that is performed by high school and college bands all over the country. This arrangement uses a slightly different take on the well-known melody. adding a bit of swing to it!
​
All rights to the song "Sweet Caroline" are held by Neil Diamond and all other responsible parties as dictated under U.S. Copyright Law. I arranged this tune for free as a student project under a University-sanctioned ensemble, and I am very fortunate to have been given this opportunity.

Avatar image courtesy of Michelle Milliman via Dreamstime Stock Photos.

Sweet Caroline, by Neil Diamond (University of Delaware Pep Band 2016-17)

"Yetzer Hara" was the winner of the 2nd Annual Tampa Bay Symphony Call for Scores, and as a result, TBS performed the piece on the third series of their Spring 2018 Concert Series, "A Tour of the Symphony", conducted by Mark Sforzini. This recording is from the first performance of the series, on April 29, 2018, at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts in Tampa, Florida.

About this piece:
"In Jewish mysticism, the “yetzer hara” refers to one’s “evil inclination,” or the desire to commit acts that are considered evil or immoral. The yetzer hara is controlled and restrained by the “yetzer hatov,” or the inclination to do good things and commit acts of kindness. Rabbinic teachings emphasize the importance of both inclinations – without the yetzer hara, people would have no sense of motivation or purpose to their actions, but the yetzer hatov is necessary to ensure that those actions do not harm others. Thus, the two inclinations depend on each other for balance.

This teaching resonates with me very personally, as someone who was prone to fits of anger while I was growing up. My adolescent years tested me as I struggled to keep my yetzer hara in check. Even at the time of this piece’s creation, I was struggling with the evil inclination, which was feeding feelings of animosity I had towards people that I believed had wronged me. This is a battle I will fight for the rest of my life, but I believe that balance will come with time and patience. We must all fight to keep our inclinations balanced, so that we are able to mature emotionally as human beings."

Yetzer Hara, for orchestra (Tampa Bay Symphony, April 29, 2018)

Commissioned and recorded by Harmonia Brass Quintet.

Matthew Hubner, trumpet
Lucas Schurman, trumpet
Kathryn Marks, horn
Thomas Warnock, trombone
Alek Mansouri, bass trombone

In the spring of 2017, myself and several other composers were approached by Harmonia Brass Quintet for a commission opportunity. They requested a brass quintet piece following this prompt: "Write about your personal response to the 2016 US election."

My initial reaction to the election, and all of the political tension leading up to it, was simply "Why?" Why would so many people, including people that I knew, trusted, and respected, vote for a man like Donald Trump, who, on his campaign trail, disrespected so many marginalized groups that live in America? I had to find the answer to this question, I had to understand where Trump supporters were coming from.

So I started reading. I read about the oxycontin crisis that is devastating rural areas, and how many of these areas suffer from a severe shortage of health care. I read about Southern and Midwestern culture, and became fascinated by the Sacred Harp tradition, which uses song to bring communities closer together. I followed Brandon Stanton, the photographer behind Humans of New York, as he travelled to Macomb County, Michigan in the wake of the election and interviewed members of the community on the street about their lives (without ever mentioning politics), and I read the stories of these Americans who live hard lives, often day to day, paycheck to paycheck, without much hope for the future.

I started to realize that many Americans who voted red in 2016 were not the horrible MAGA-hat wearing, Nazi saluting people that I saw on TV. They were regular people, just like you and I, with day jobs, friends and family that they desperately cared about, trying their best to live with some terrible cards that they've been dealt. I came away from this experience feeling heartbroken for my country, but with an inkling of hope that if I could empathize with people with vastly different life experiences than mine, then perhaps with time, love, and understanding, they could do the same for people that they once claimed to vehemently hate.

This piece uses a beautiful Sacred Harp hymn, "Prospect", as its main musical material. The theme is presented, then twisted, but eventually comes back to be stronger in the end, just as I hope America will become stronger and more unified.

Avatar photo courtesy of Tomasz Szymanski via Dreamstime Stock Photos.

New Understandings, for brass quintet (2017)

Workshopped by the Peabody Symphony Orchestra on February 10, 2020.

Conducted by Valery Saul.

About this piece:
" I started writing this piece during a period in my life when I found myself surrounded by friends and family that were either getting engaged or married. The concept of love, of finding that person who is one’s soul-mate, the “other half” with whom one can truly connect, of spending the rest of one’s life with this person - these were ideas that weighed heavily upon me during this time. Love is the most beautiful emotion that human beings are capable of feeling, and I hope that this piece can convey this emotion in several of its many facets.

This piece is dedicated to all those who have found love, and all those who are still seeking it."

Avatar image courtesy of Creative Commons Stock Photos.

From this day until my last, for orchestra (2019)

Music written by Daniel Despins, text written by Grey Grant.

Recorded by Alex Pinkus at the Peabody Institute on March 7-8, 2020. 

Featuring Abigail Head, soprano, and Jonathan Milord, viola.

About this piece:
"A few months before this piece was conceived, a close friend of mine lost her aunt to cancer. This event, and the emotional aftermath that followed, led me to realize that I never fully processed the grief of losing two of my own grandparents, ten years earlier. This eventually led to an intense self-analysis of how I deal with loss in general.

In the midst of this emotional turbulence, The weight of your absence came into existence. The text, written by fellow composer, poet, and friend Grey Grant, tells the story of a woman, grieving over the recent loss of her partner, and of all the various emotions that arise through the process of grieving. The loss of a loved one is often something that can take years to heal, but I hope that this woman, and anyone listening who may currently be in mourning, can find some hope and light at the end of this incredibly dark tunnel."

Avatar courtesy of publicdomainphotographs via Dreamstime Stock Photos.

The weight of your absence - Part 5 ("Interlude")

The weight of your absence - Part 4 ("A death mask")

The weight of your absence - Part 3 ("Gone - just - gone")

The weight of your absence - Part 2 ("Here at this table")

The weight of your absence - Part 1 ("Shadow and specter")

I am a freelance composer based in Asheville, NC. Occasionally I post excerpts, sneak peeks, and full recordings of my music here. Enjoy! :)

Daniel Despins

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