Synchro (Cicada) came about after reading about the incredible emergence of Brood X, the latest Cicada brood to emerge in the spring of 2021. This rare event, occurring every 17 years, is rivalled in its visual impact only by the cacophonic song produced by the rapid buckling and unbuckling of drum-like tymbals in the Cicadas’ abdomen.

Aside from the incredible sounds produced by the insects, the precise synchronicity achieved between billions of individuals, measurable down to the day, interested me greatly, and is a factor I attempted to explore in Synchro (Cicada). Synchronization between extremely fast-moving parallel drum-machine beats to create a cohesive structure at both the micro and macro level was an attempted goal throughout the piece.

Micropolyphony was also employed as a means of applying line and gesture to repeating ostinato figures and textural material, in order to shape a larger sense of form throughout the piece.

Synchro (Cicada) for Jaw Harp, Shaker, and Analogue Drum Machine

Excerpt from my second string quartet, written in 2019.

Our planet is approaching a precipice. Climate change, deforestation, and pollution are leading to mass extinctions, natural disasters, and human migration. We plunder the earth's resources, consumed by greed. And yet, these resources are finite. Our planet is finite.

Recorded by Simeon Rusnak
Conducted by: Ben Sellick
Performed by the Soundyard Ensemble

String Quartet No. 2 (2019)(Excerpt)

Lux Lucis In Obscurum

Four Hindu Folk Songs is a set of pieces based upon four Hindu legends that I found to be intriguing for either their fascinating descriptions, or philosophical content. 

'The Mountain on a Finger' tells the story of a village of people who choose to follow the God Krishna, instead of Indra. Indra causes a rainstorm to flood the villagers, but Krishna saves the villagers by lifting the entire mountain on his finger, and uses it as an umbrella. 

'Two Frogs' tells the story of two frogs who fall into a vessel of milk. The one frog quickly gives up, but the other keeps swimming, until its legs turn the milk into butter and it escapes. 

'The Blind Men and the Elephant' tells the story of a group of blind men who touch an elephant to learn what it is like. Each one feels a different part, but only one part. They then compare notes and learn that they are in complete disagreement. 

'A Meeting with Death' tells the story of a father who offers his son up as sacrifice to the God of death (Yama). In Yama's kingdom, the boy asks for three wishes: that his father be pleased with him, that he goes to heaven, and that Yama tell him the secret of life and death.

Pianist: Sherry Du

Movement 2: Two Frogs

Four Folk Songs is a set of pieces based upon four Hindu legends that I found to be intriguing for either their fascinating descriptions, or philosophical content. 

'The Mountain on a Finger' tells the story of a village of people who choose to follow the God Krishna, instead of Indra. Indra causes a rainstorm to flood the villagers, but Krishna saves the villagers by lifting the entire mountain on his finger, and uses it as an umbrella. 

'Two Frogs' tells the story of two frogs who fall into a vessel of milk. The one frog quickly gives up, but the other keeps swimming, until its legs turn the milk into butter and it escapes. 

'The Blind Men and the Elephant' tells the story of a group of blind men who touch an elephant to learn what it is like. Each one feels a different part, but only one part. They then compare notes and learn that they are in complete disagreement. 

'A Meeting with Death' tells the story of a father who offers his son up as sacrifice to the God of death (Yama). In Yama's kingdom, the boy asks for three wishes: that his father be pleased with him, that he goes to heaven, and that Yama tell him the secret of life and death.

Pianist: Sherry Du

Movement 1: The Mountain On A Finger

'A Un Hombre De Gran Nariz' is a humorous poem written by the famous Spanish poet Franciso de Quebedo y Villegas.

It is believed he wrote the poem about his chief literary rival at the time, poet Luis de Gongóra. The piece is composed in a Latin-American style and meant to be sung with energy and humour, to reflect the poem.

Performed by: The UofT Men's Chorus, April 2017

A Un Hombre De Gran Nariz

Winner of the 2017 Exultate Chamber Singers Choral Competition

Performed by the Exultate Chamber Singers, May 2017

Piano: Mark Ramsay

THE WINTER LAKES - William Wilfred Campbell

Out in a world of death far to the northward lying,
    Under the sun and the moon, under the dusk and the day;
Under the glimmer of stars and the purple of sunsets dying,
    Wan and waste and white, stretch the great lakes away.

Never a bud of spring, never a laugh of summer, 
    Never a dream of love, never a song of bird;
But only the silence and white, the shores that grow chiller and dumber,
    Wherever the ice winds sob, and the griefs of winter are heard.

Crags that are black and wet out of the gray lake looming,               
    Under the sunset’s flush and the pallid, faint glimmer of dawn;
Shadowy, ghost-like shores, where midnight surfs are booming
    Thunders of wintry woe over the spaces wan.

Moons that glimmer above, waters that lie white under,
    Miles and miles of lake far out under the night;
Foaming crests of waves, surfs that shoreward thunder,
    Shadowy shapes that flee, haunting the spaces white.

The Winter Lakes

Themes From Chopin's Heart

Resonance | Texture | Pulsing

An exploration in textures and spectral timbres, the piece should be played freely and not bound by any sort of metric time structure. The concept of the piece is based around the mathematical object, known as a Mobius Strip. 

This is a shape with only one side and one boundary and has the mathematical property of being unorientable. The piece attempts to explore the strange symmetrical properties of the Mobius strip sonically, by exploring symetrical melodic figures, patterns, and larger sections of the piece.

Performed by: Anthony Thompson

Möbius Fragments

Conceptually based off of the 19th century poem 'Ozymandias' by Percy Blysshe Shelley, this composition is one piece out of a set of three that I composed around the poem’s many themes.

Building on the central theme of the poem, which explores the idea that all empires and their leaders inevitably decline despite their pretensions to greatness, I attempt to examine the concepts of monarchical/colonial musical deconstruction, fragmentation, juxtaposition, and evolution, and attempt to create the psychoacoustic elements needed for these abstract concepts to register with listeners.

The piece begins with a fanfare, a musical genre largely associated with nationalism and militarism.
This is then deconstructed, with fragments of the fanfare appearing throughout the piece, and being merged with musical phrases that seek to evoke the marching of soldiers, the violent interruptions of war, and the faith we put in our societal 'monuments'.

Recording: January, 2018 | Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra

Monuments

Sung by: Central Bucks High School-West Choir
Conducted by: Joseph Ohrt

Rudyard Kipling's inspiring poem, 'The Way through the Woods' deals with themes around the healing power of nature, the ultimate power of nature over humanity, and also how our impact on this world can never entirely be removed.

Although nature, and our planet have an incredible ability to heal, and reclaim what was destroyed by humanity, the scars of our impact can never entirely be erased. However, in the end, nature is far more powerful and larger than us, and will continue to exist long after we are gone.

The Way Through The Woods

Poetry by Kagan Goh

Sung by Will George

Pianist Marguerite Witvoet

June 29, 2018, VSO School of Music

Waiting

An examination of the increasing permeation of technology in all aspects of our lives. The piece is composed entirely out of manipulated recorded sounds by the cello and violin, combined with live performers. No synthesized sounds were used.

Violin: Ilana Waniuk
Cello: Amahl Arulanandam

Solid State

Aphantasia — a non-functioning mind's eye.

Fanton Clerc - Violin

Ana Mora - Piano

Fantasia Aphantasia

Performed as part of the 2020 1:2:1 livestream concert

Composed by: Steven Webb

Performed by: Camilla Caldwell

Coded | De(c)oded

Contemporary Music Composer | Sound Designer

Steven Webb

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