One Of Us Is Dead

A variation on a theme by Francois Couperin.  It was composed after my time at the European American Musical Alliance in Paris.  It is performed by Markus Kaitila at The Hit Factory, NYC on July 6, 2025.  Maximilien Hein was the Recording and Mixing Engineer on the project. Special thanks to Ray Lustig for help during the recording session.

Couperin Variation No. 1 - Under the Mountain Road

Music by Conrad Cummings, Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble

Zephyr's Lesson

There And Everywhere for Carillon, Trombone Quartet, and Solo Viola, Excerpt

for unaccompanied SATB chorus

I. There Will Come Soft Rains

There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground, 
And swallows circling with their shimmering sound;

And frogs in the pools singing at night, 
And wild plum-trees in tremulous white;

Robins will wear their feathery fire, 
Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire;

And not one will know of the war, not one 
Will care at last when it is done.

Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree 
If mankind perished utterly;

And spring herself, when she woke at dawn, 
Would scarcely know that we were gone.

II. June Night

Oh Earth, you are too dear tonight, 
How can I sleep while all around 
Floats rainy fragrance and the far 
Deep voice of the ocean that talks to the ground?

Oh Earth, you gave me all I have,
I love you, I love you, -- oh what have I 
That I can give you in return --
Except my body after I die?

Teasdale Songs (2016): for SATB chorus

A strict fractal pattern unfolding from only 3 notes, represented on 7 different timescales (2187 notes).  Music boxes are the only free element, light penetrating the fixed structure and refracted in unpatterned shimmering. 
 
Live performance recording
Ji Weon Ryu (flute)
John Hong (clarinet)
Cherry Choi Tung Yeung (violin)
Ken Kubota (cello)
Chi-Wei Lo (piano)
Music box maker: Ray Lustig

Additional music box operators: Julia Douglas, Yu Shi, Sandra Garner, Maria Fernanda Chibuque Gordillo, Howard Lieberman, Eliza Minden, Michael Propper, Francis Petty, Tom Tolleson

Kryształ Muzyki (Crystal in Music), fractal for ensemble and music boxes, live recording

This is a performance from the April 25th performance at the Juilliard Evening Division Composers Showing.

String Quartet - Antics Mvmt II "Song" - Juilliard Comp Show 052517

One of a set of variations on a theme by Couperin that I am currently working on - will post more soon...

Variations on a Theme by Couperin - Variation 3, Robert O'Connor piano

music for visual artist Liu Wa's neuro-tech installation, "Still."

Past exhibitions:
Beijing M Woods Museum
Harvard Arts First Festival
Yale College Studio Art Thesis Exhibition

Still (2017): for piano and wine glasses

Depending on the spectra of their local stars, exoplanets’ flora may come in wildly different colors than our own: red, purple, blue, or even black.

Sophia Steger, Isabella Gies, violins
Frida Siegfrist Oliver, viola
Sanae Kodaira, cello

[alien forests] (2019): for string quartet

Rise
I. Beginnings (-3:00)
II. Farewell Song (3:01-9:54)

Rise is a two-movement work commissioned by the California Wind Band Consortium. I wanted to create a new piece that could be presented in three distinct ways: Both movements played back-to-back; standalone movements (“Beginnings” can be a concert opener or encore, and “Farewell Song” can be placed anywhere in a program); or having the movements bookend an entire program (i.e., the concert begins with “Beginnings” and closes with “Farewell Song.”)

“Beginnings” is designed to function as a long gradual crescendo. It begins with a rhythmic ostinato that becomes the driving force for the entire movement.  As it progresses, the orchestration and overall intensity grows, ultimately creating an uplifting and optimistic ending.

“Farewell Song” is based on the final movement of my violin concerto, Orchard in Fog. This movement is meant to have a timeless feel, simultaneously serving as an atmospheric and pastoral-landscape type of sonic experience, while also being imagined as a goodbye song to a loved one.

A special thank you to John Burdett and Rickey Badua, who were not only instrumental in making the commission happen, but also provided me with invaluable guidance in creating a piece that would work for both high school and collegiate ensembles.

This recording features the Azusa Pacific University Wind Ensemble, conducted by Dr. John Burdett.

Rise

I'm a multi-media artist and composer.  I play the Uilleann pipes, piano and tin whistle.  I compose, paint and and make videos.  I am deeply interested and concerned about the state of our planet and the all the living things that depend on it.  I live in New Jersey, can often be found in New York City, and escape to Vermont, where "I go to lose my mind and find my soul," as John Muir so poetically put it.

Couperin Variation No. 1 - Under the Mountain Road

Robert J. O'Connor

Related tracks