Dedicated to the severity and complexity of grief, Lament describes the experience of grief on a daily basis, emphasizing the mundane and bleak with a descending stepwise pattern that collapses harmonically more and more as the piece progresses.

Premiered by Jae Ahn-Benton

Lament (Live)

Dear Alba is a piano cycle consisting of 11 short solo piano pieces that seek to encapsulate and pay homage to the natural beauty and allure of the Scottish countryside and its historical architecture by referencing photographs I have taken of locations I have visited while living in and traveling around the country. Similar to a collection of etudes, each piece also explores a different compositional and piano technique spanning from secondary melody and Chopin-esque left hand figurations to pitch sets and varying polyrhythms.

Premiered by Jae Ahn-Benton

Fog on Spey Bay (Live) - Dear Alba

Pugin's Nightwatch (Live) - Dear Alba

Edinburgh Castle Guards (Live) - Dear Alba

Aberdeen Dreich (Live) - Dear Alba

The River Dee (Live) - Dear Alba

Dear Alba is a piano cycle consisting of 11 short solo piano pieces that seek to encapsulate and pay homage to the natural beauty and allure of the Scottish countryside and its historical architecture by referencing photographs I have taken of locations I have visited while living in and traveling around the country. Similar to a collection of etudes, each piece also explores a different compositional and piano technique spanning from secondary melody and Chopin-esque left hand figurations to pitch sets and varying polyrhythms.

Premiered by Jae-Ahn Benton

Plight of the Cairngorms (Live) - Dear Alba

Bridge to Tantallon (Live) - Dear Alba

Balmedie Beach (Live) - Dear Alba

Milltimber Woods (Live) - Dear Alba

Overwhelmed by the trials and tribulations of everyday life, Vitae employs an inward spiraling motion through its progressively mutating harmony and secondary melody that gradually expands across the piano’s tessitura, coinciding with the expansion and increasingly overwhelming nature of such challenges as time progresses.

Premiered by Jae-Ahn Benton 

Vitae (Live)

Once considered a pleasant daydream, but now polluted by modern-day problems, Reverie evokes a sense of longing and despair through the “weeping” or drastic intervallic leap and cantabile style of the violin above a simple yet consistent piano line.

Premiered by Leanna Oliver and Jae Ahn-Benton

Reverie (Live)

Meaning “constancy of the spirit,” this piece symbolizes perseverance in the face of adversity and overcoming even the most difficult challenges. 

Premiered by the Sunset Trombone Choir 
Conducted by Sophie Moorea

Constanza dell'anima arr. for Trombone Choir (Live)

Commissioned by Dub Steven for UNLV's BFA Student Choreography Concert 

"In Full Bloom"Based on the word "soñar" in Spanish meaning "to dream", Soña recounts the fond memory of the choreographer, Dub Steven's, grandmother whose passing they described as not somber, but as though it were a farewell until they meet again like in a dream.

SOÑA

Commissioned by Jenna Wurtzberger for the Bomiart Movement Society  

Reflective of Jenna Wurtzberger's choreography, Viscera is based on visceral movement and the use of breath. 

Viscera

Through the use of calculated dissonances, frequent syncopation, and polyrhythms, Alarum seeks to personify anxiety in all its forms while also describing the journey of finding one’s identity beginning from a point of cultural disconnection to reaching a sense of community and pride in one’s multifaceted cultural identity in the form of two contrasting Latin American dances.

Premiered by Kevin Vazquez and Jae-Ahn Benton

Alarum (Live)

Sophie Moorea is an Argentinian-American composer, arranger, and trombonist from São Paulo, Brazil. With over 10 years of experience in music and dance across three continents, she seeks to highlight shared human experiences and raise awareness of social justice issues through her work.

Sophie Moorea

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