Erlkönig (Schubert)

For flute, viola, and harp.

Premiered by members of the New World Symphony (Grace Browning, Henrik Heide, Tony Parce).  

Two Solitudes (Sean Friar) Premiere Performance

Ave Maria (Franz Biebl)

"Orison" for string quartet invites listeners into a deeply personal realm of contemplation and introspection, akin to a prayer whispered in solitude. Drawing on influences from the composer's Iranian heritage, the piece weaves together ornate melodies that possess a free-flowing and improvisatory quality, following the rich and expressive traditions found in traditional and folk Persian music. The music unfolds as if detached from the external world, exploring the intricate landscape of inner emotions, marked by longing and yearning, turbulence, a sense of reaching and falling, and moments of hope and optimism.

Orison for String Quartet

April 26th, 2015
UCLA Schoenberg Hall

Richard Valitutto, piano
wild Up ensemble, Christopher Rountree, conductor

Toccata for Piano and Chamber Ensemble

lyrics by katya richardson. reading by invisible anatomy 2016.

existing in dimension
like wine stains drowning in fabric.
borrowed tears, muffled laughter.
fifth season
where days don't end and nothing grows.
fifth season
they say there's four
but he lives in one more.
fifth season
of tv shows.


fifth season (sketch 2016)

https://vimeo.com/183369057
film by Yuchi Ma

X i a o B i n g   [ 2 0 1 6 ]

Movements are played without a break.

I. At the Precipice @ 0:00
II. Midnight @ 4:51
III. A Luminous Machine @ 10:04

Performed by John Mietus, Rebecca Lawrence, Molly Tutt, and Michael Fortner

Quartet For Four Double Basses

"Music and Mental Illness"
by Paolo Pietropaolo, 2010

The composer Robert Schumann struggled with mental illness for his entire life. This piece, part radio essay and part musical journey, examines the relationship between music and mental illness.

Music and Mental Illness

Happy Birthday Beethoven

Performed at Aspen Music Festival 2019
Aspen Conducting Academy Orchestra
Piotr Waclawik - Conductor


___________________________________________________^___

A Rube Goldberg Machine, is a machine that achieves trivial tasks through an overly inefficient and convoluted process. 

You may have seen “the marble rolling down a track to topple a domino piece that hits a lighter that lights a candle that burns a thread that releases a lever that...” well, you get the point. And all for what? To have the machine finally add some salt to a dish or perform some other trivial task; a task that clearly could have been achieved in a much more straight-forward manner.
 
It’s the complex and innovative way such a machine works, that gives it its raison d’etre. The machine stops being about the outcome, and instead lets us focus on the way that outcome is achieved. Often, the more elaborate, clever, and creative the machine is, the more we enjoy seeing it do its magic. 

It occurred to me that our music is also kind of a Rube Goldberg Machine. On the surface it appears as if the goal is to move from 
dominant to tonic, or from tension to release. Yet, a cadence on its own is hardly a piece. And so, composers find elaborate, clever, and creative manners to get from tension to release, making the process intentionally inefficient for the sake of that journey. A journey that may include twists and turns, and marbles and levers, 
and... you name it. 
 
This is my machine.

Orison for String Quartet

Sina Karachiani