The California Coleridge-Taylor Singers
Zanaida Robles, conductor

Psalm 121 by Zanaida Robles

This work was composed for the Christian Fellowship of Art Music Composers "Forging Links" conference, and commissioned by the them, and composed for Brandon Page - it is a very accessible sweet duo, contrapuntal in nature, something that could be played as an offertory in a small church that had a pair of high string players

Reflections of a Hymn of Thanksgiving

The opening track from Kerry's large-scale late-night mass, 'dusksongs', which was commissioned by The Ebor Singers and released as an album on Boreas Music.

O Nata Lux

Rihards Dubra - Stetit angelus (Collegium Vocale Hannover)

Inspired by Thor, the Norse god of thunder. Performed by percussionist, 
Rob Funkhouser, on an originally constructed thunder sheet and frame. 
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Copyright 2016 All Rights Reserved

THORn, for solo thunder sheet (2016)

This excerpt was prepared for my application to Princeton University, for Fall 2018.

Surfaces EXCERPT

Gustav Holst - Hymn To Dionysus

Scored for string orchestra (3.3.2.2.1)

Completed 06/28/2019
Premiered 02/14/2020 by Jebat Kee and members of the Peabody Conservatory

Violins: Audrey Maxner, Nicolle Avila, Anna Pavlou, Sarah Thomas, Hanyu Feng, Adam Davis
Violas: Amy Tan and Daphne Bickley
Celli: Kyle Victor and Zoe Hardel
Double Bass: Patrick Raynard

Among my favorite pieces of music is Sibelius’s 6th Symphony. It is an extraordinary work not just for its contrapuntal elegance and formal innovation, but also for its remarkable treatment of time. From its gentle opening, the piece establishes a floating and ethereal soundworld that sounds almost unmeasured, despite its melodic and contrapuntal clarity. This image of well-formed musical objects floating, unimpeded by barlines, laid the groundwork for Minutes
Between. 

I sought to explore contrasts in the passage of time - slow melodic figurations over fast harmonic rhythms, wild arppeggios embellishing glacial chord changes, entirely unmeasured segments guided purely by musicians’ intuition, rigorously beat passages with sharply defined pulses. At many points, musicians are in entirely different tempi, stretching and playing with materials to create swirling textures at turns and dreamy counterpoint at others. 

At its heart, though, Minutes Between is guided by a romantic impulse, built as it is out of two main motifs - the soloist’s opening three notes of Sibelius’s Violin Concerto, as well as a descending scalar melody. The two intermingle throughout the piece against a persistent harmonic backdrop, recast in roles austere, contemplative, anxious.

Random Stuff

Minutes Between, for chamber strings

"Herbert's Earth" is a setting of three poems by George Herbert (1593-1633), reflecting the poets views of life and love.  This piece was premiered by DavidMichael Schuster, tenor, and Michael Scherperel, piano, on March 26, 2017.

Love Bade Me Welcome

This is a setting of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem "The Builders," here set for TTBB choir.  In his poem, Wadsworth describes the generational journey of making meaning and having an impact through the allegory of building a very large structure.

This track was performed and produced by Matthew Curtis at Choral Tracks.

The Builders, for TTBB choir

Justine Koontz

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