Performed by Jack Quartet, Dec. 2020.

Composed for the JACK Quartet during a retreat at Robert Rauschenberg's former studio in Captiva,  "Everything Changes, Nothing Changes" is a work for string quartet that derives its compositional structure from a grid consisting of 14 sections that contain 16 permuted rhythmic units over a long period of time. (The tempo of the piece is so slow, however, that these units will be hardly perceptible to the listener.) Amid seemingly endless shifting harmonies, one of the constants is how the quartet functions as a unit without featuring single voices throughout the work’s entirety. Another constant that occurs is when two or three voices are playing a given sonority (an event), the ear tends to go horizontally towards the arrival of a new voice that enters. In other words, when one or more voices arrive within any event, the sonority then intensifies so that the resulting harmony is perceived more quickly than the way in which the voices move within that event.

Scores - Recordings

Everything Changes, Nothing Changes (final version)

Performed by the Sandbox Percussion Quartet: Ian Rosenbaum, Jonny Allen, Terry Sweeney, Victor Caccese, with Conor Hanick (piano). Premiered on May 11, 2022 at the Gilmore Festival, Kalamazoo, MI.

For Arthur Jafa (2022)

For Marcos Balter (2020), is a two-movement work for violin and orchestra. Performed by the Lucerne festival Contemporary Orchestra, conducted by Chloe Dufresne. Maana Hori, violin.

This is NOT a concerto, but a meditative work. There is no protagonist. Nor is there an antagonist. Finally, there is no cadenza.

For Marcos Balter

Written for the Crossing Choir's 2022 album "Carols After a Plague," this composition is by no means a joyful "carol," in the traditional sense. Rather, it is a contemplative work that I feel deals with the question of what exactly are we referring to when we speak of "the plague" in the context of this very critical time (the year 2020, and up to the present). Is this "plague" limited to the COVID 19 pandemic we are still experiencing? Are we only making work about this pandemic only, or (speaking for myself and for my culture) perhaps the centuries old pandemic of white supremacy in America and in Europe?

Perhaps, while listening, we shall thusly consider first the continued feeling of being confined in isolation; the despair and frustration that we experienced as a result of social distancing, and the everyday precarity of life as an artist for those who are struggling. Furthermore, we shall examine the uptick in physical and gun violence as it concerns not only racism, but sexism, homophobia, and religious fanaticism, among many other civil strifes. Not to mention the threat of eviction, the separation of migrant familes through deportation and other means, homelessness, climate change, and so on... This composition is a direct response to all of the above.

Carols after a Plague

Requiem for a Plague

Inspired by and evocative of John Coltrane's quartet performance of the composition "Untitled 90320," For Harold Budd is a meditative piece written for alto flute, vibraphone, and piano. Performers are Margaret Lancaster (alto flute); David Broome (piano); and Russell Greenberg (vibraphone). Score available upon request.

For Harold Budd

Performed by the Yarn Wire Ensemble (2023): Julia Den Boer (piano); Laura Barger (piano); Russell Greenberg (percussion); Sae Hashimoto (percussion); Tyshawn Sorey (celesta).

"For Ross Gay" is a slowly unfolding sound world composed for myself and the Yarn Wire ensemble, with whom I've had the pleasure of collaborating over the past three years. Beginning with my Autoschediams spontaneous/directed/hybrid composition lexicon (what I call the "ground floor"), we collectively arrived at a musical language that is very specific and applicable to all four performers and their individual setups. Through meticulous rehearsals and workshopping of ideas that I had in mind for this work, I was able to craft something that I felt is in many ways reflective of our intense experiences working together. From there, I created a structural map that invites possibilities of reinterpreting material within precise timecode brackets that contain "fixed" sections that are created in dialogue with the musicians that, for example, indicate which instruments to use and what timbral ideas to explore in what quality or quantity (some of which may be combined with some traditionally notated ideas in the score and apart from the score) as well as "open" sections where a given player may be invited or instructed to perform with or counter to another player with no instrument or timbre specifications at all. -TS

For Ross Gay

THIS AUDIO RECORDING IS ARCHIVAL AND UNPUBLISHED. 

World premiere performed live on August 18, 2022 by Timothy McAllister (alto saxophone) and the Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra.

For Wadada Leo Smith (Adagio)

Performed by Hub New Music. University of Houston - 17 February 2024.

THIS AUDIO IS RAW AND UNEDITED.

For Alvin Singleton

For ten instruments. Performed by Talea Ensemble (David Baker, conductor) on 28 March 2023.

THIS AUDIO IS RAW AND UNEDITED.

For Wayne Shorter

For solo piano. Commissioned and performed by Jonathan Biss. THIS AUDIO IS RAW AND UNEDITED.

For Anthony Braxton

For Solo Piano. Performed by Conor Hannick (2022).

THIS AUDIO IS RAW AND UNEDITED.

For James Primosch

Performed by the Brooklyn Rider Quartet (2023). 

THIS AUDIO IS RAW AND UNEDITED.

Untitled (2023) [string quartet]

"Nebulae" is largely inspired by the instrumental notated musics for saxophone quartets led by multi instrumentalist-composers Roscoe Mitchell ("Nonaah" for four alto saxophones) and Anthony Braxton ("Composition 37" for saxophone quartet). Commissioned by the Philadelphia-based PRISM Quartet, "Nebulae" is an exactly notated work written for the said group along featuring optional improvising percussion (drum set) or mallet percussion. This extended version of "Nebulae" is a live performance in which I am performing on extended range glockenspiel. There is a yet-to-be commercially released recording of this composition.

PRISM @ Free Library of Philadelphia

Nebulae

Commissioned by Opera Philadelphia, Carnegie Hall, and the Lyric Opera of Chicago, "Cycles of My Being" (2018) is a song cycle developed in collaboration with tenor Lawrence Brownlee (for whom the song cycle is written) and poet Terrance Hayes, both of whom contributed the texts. There are two versions of the work. The performers in this recording are Brownlee and pianist Myra Huang. The second version of "Cycles" is scored for tenor, clarinet, violin, cello, and piano.

Cycles Of My Being

Cycles Of My Being (piano-vocal edition)

Similar to Butch Morris’ “Conduction” ™ and Anthony Braxton’s “Language Music” syntaxes for improvisers, my "Autoschediasms" is a conductor’s vocabulary that is used to generate live composition through cuing specific ensemble members (or a group of musicians) to produce a given sound or perform specific actions. Autoschediams is a duet for conductor and orchestra that can be viewed as both an evolution of and a departure from both the Morris and Braxton vocabularies. 

This system contains three distinct methods that can work simultaneously and interchangeably. The first of these three methods is Gesture: a series of cues that indicate specific actions for musicians to perform given with a preparatory cue, followed by the conductor’s downbeat. The gestures can involve the use of up to four batons simultaneously by the conductor, depending on the nature of a given cue from this series. The second of the three methods is Autonomy: a series of ten (10) numerical signals (given using only the right hand) that indicate specific actions for musicians to perform of their own accord and in their own manner. These cues may also be performed in combination with one another by the same performer, when indicated with both hands or on a small placard. The third, and most involved, of these methods is Category. Similar to Autonomy, this method includes indications for musicians to perform activities in their own manner. However, the cues in Category are all indicated by either one or two small whiteboards. Moreover, there are multiple parallel series (strata) that can coexist within this method. For example, players are sometimes asked to perform a number of actions that are relational to another musician or a group. Another example could be a situation where players are asked to perform or repeat a series of distinct musical events (these could range from assigned memories that recall earlier performed actions to instrument specific playing techniques, among many other possibilities) or one or more minimally notated events. 

All three of these methods demand a considerable amount of time to learn and rehearse and are often juxtaposed into a unique whole, therefore creating a unique compositional model for orchestral and chamber music: one that incorporates painstakingly detailed formal processes and calls for both instrumental and virtual soloists to navigate highly prescribed performance parameters that may otherwise be ignored.

This is an excerpt of the fifth installment of my 2019 series of Autoschediams conducted by myself, featuring flute, English horn, bassoon, tenor saxophone, trombone, soprano (doubling on theremin), piano, viola, and two double basses. This work is spontaneously composed and therefore contains no score.

Autoschediasms

Autoschediasms MMXIX - V (Banff) [excerpt]

"For Fred Lerdahl" (2018) is a work that was composed for the composer-theorist's recent retirement as Fritz Reiner Professor of Music at Columbia University, during which time he was my principal teacher. This work not only seeks to pay homage to a composer whose music I like very much, but also one who provided me encouragement and unwavering support during a very long period of self doubt while at Columbia. He almost singlehandedly (along with George Lewis) provided a platform for me to truly believe in myself, to be honest in my own output, and to embrace my interests as an artist, rather than to fight or question them. For these reasons, this composition is dedicated to him and his influence on many...yours truly included.

This piece was performed at a portrait concert presented by New England Conservatory's Contemporary Improvisation Department at Jordan Hall, and features Martine Thomas (viola), Alexander Garde and Jaewon Lee (vibraphones), and Ziang Xu (piano).

For Fred Lerdahl

"For George Lewis" is a pensive work that first drew inspiration primarily from a spontaneously composed, drone-based "Autoschediams" that I conducted in 2017 at the Banff Center, during which I employed only three gestures for the work's entirety. Additionally, this piece is heavily inspired by Lewis' work for large ensemble "The Will To Adorn" (2011). 

Adornment is a theme that runs central to all three aforementioned works, and yet adornment as a COMPOSITIONAL attitude is expressed in very different ways - in concept, sound, and scale. While Lewis' "Adorn" is an expression of adornment through unconventional use of instruments and an abundance of activity, the contrastingly static "For George Lewis" slowly unfolds and is expressed through layers, movement, and a very intense awareness and shifting/"decoration" of time. There is great attention to detail given to its temporal, formal, and harmonic construction, as well as precision, digression, layering, and expressive timing in groups situated within the ensemble. Both the Lewis piece and my composition are indeed very demanding for the performers and require a great degree of concentration on the part of everyone involved in these experiences.

This piece was commissioned and performed by Alarm Will Sound (16 players) on November 9, 2019 at Desmond Lee Concert Hall, St. Louis MO.

For George Lewis

"For Anton Vishio" (2019) is a composition for clarinet, flute, and piano. Anton Vishio is a composer, theorist, and pianist who was, to me, a kindred spirit - not only through his curiosity and celebration of new music that has and remains very important to me and work, but also through his uncanny ability to connect music of the past with what is happening now. He remains a dear friend, and this piece is dedicated to him.

For anonymity purposes, I will not name the incredible performers of this composition (unless they want to be identified, in which case I will list who they are...!) and its date of premiere. This is only for your ears.

For Anton Vishio

Simply put, the music is slow and requires patience. Not much more explanation is needed. Published scores available from Edition Peters/Wise Music.

Tyshawn Sorey

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