Nebula(e) is an exploration of the harmonic series of the flute, limited to very few sets of fingerings from which the pitch content of the entire piece is derived. The melodies ebb and flow in and out of undulating patterns and rhythmic layers - creating a hazy and cloudy “textural nebula”. The significance of the spelling of the title, Nebula(e) is both an implication and rejection of plurality. The inclusion of two flutes creates a homogeneous sound world, with each flute dovetailing in and out of each other. Blending the identity and presence of two separate flute sounds blurs any sense of clarity and bridges the gap between one sound and multiple. The degree of separation between the textures of both flute parts is what creates nebulae.

Nebula(e) for two flutes

Dedicated to violinist Carina Yee, Verdigris is inspired by the Robert Frost poem, “Nothing Gold Can Stay”, which represents, change, uncertainty, and impermanence.  The first line from the poem reads “Nature’s first green is gold”, which to me evoked lots of implications about color and synesthetic association, leading me to title the piece Verdigris.  Verdigris is a blue-green rust or petina on brass or copper from oxidization.  The music is built around the idea of decay, and on a fundamental level, a color and textural change over time.  This gradual obscurity is portrayed through the lens of rusting metal, creating an eerie and ethereal sound world.

Verdigris - for prepared violin

The Stones Will Still Cry is a commentary on climate change and the adverse effects humans have on the natural environment.

Text by jaze matteo wharton
Scored for a capella SSAATTBB choir, and performed by Peabody NEXT Ensemble, conducted by Dr. Beth Willer

The Stones Will Still Cry - for mixed chorus

Axis of Asymmetry showcases the different tunings and timbres utilized by the baroque and modern violins. It is also a reconciliation of baroque style characteristics as well as my own. Both violins display similar materials, but their roles in transforming them are separate, resulting in an implied axis around which the parts move in opposition to each other.

Axis of Asymmetry - for duo baroque and modern violins

Burnt Shadows on Broken Mirrors

The Bard Weeps (2023) for vocal sextet SATTBB
Composer: Will Martin
Recording Engineer: Aaron Zimmer
Performers: Kayleigh Sprouse, Emma Tucker, Opal Clyburn-Miller, Will Martin, Christian Schmidt, T.J. Callahan

Text adapted from William Shakespeare, Sonnet 64:

The bard weeps
as he turns his downcast eyes
to the shore
and says:

I have seen by Time's fell hand de-fac'd
the outworn buried age
lofty towers
I see downras'd

When I see the ocean gain 
advantage on the shore
The kingdom of the shore

This thought is
This thought is as
This thought is as death

which cannot choose 
But weep
But weep to have that which it fears to lose

The Bard Weeps (2023)

In Medias Res: one minute of viola music is a fragment taken out of context of implied music before and after what is heard.  The minute of music showcased has no definite beginning or end. The conception of In Medias Res comes from imagining how I perceive 60 seconds of music within a larger context, while still contained to a seemingly excerpted listening. Performed by Sergio Sánchez Perera.

In Medias Res: one minute of viola music

For Ensemble Linea:

Keiko Murakami, flute
Andrea Nagy, bass clarinet
Carolina Santiago Martínez, piano 
Helena Sousa Estévez, accordion
Ernst Spyckerelle, violin
Laurent Camatte, viola 
Johannes Burghoff, cello
Jean Philippe-Wurtz, conductor

Barbed Gossamer - for Ensemble Linea

INTERNATIONAL YOUNG COMPOSERS & CONDUCTORS ACADEMY IN TICINO
World premieres by the composers and conductors selected for the 9th edition of the IYCA in Ticino

ENSEMBLE MODERN
	•	Eva Böcker — Cello
	•	Paul Cannon — Double Bass
	•	Christian Hommel — Oboe
	•	Megumi Kasakawa — Viola
	•	Thomas Adrian Mittler — Horn
	•	Giorgos Panagiotidis — Violin
	•	Johannes Schwarz — Bassoon
	•	Dietmar Wiesner — Flute

TUTORS
	•	Oscar Bianchi (Italy / Switzerland)
	•	Titus Engel (Switzerland)
	•	Andile Khumalo (South Africa)
	•	Francesca Verunelli (Italy)

CONDUCTORS
	•	Christian Schüller (1990/1991 — Germany)
	•	Andreas Bäuml (1991 — Germany)
	•	Onna Stäheli (1997 — Switzerland)
	•	Hon Ning Cheung (1997 — Hong Kong)
	•	Elias Jurgschat (1995 — Germany)
	•	Daniel Satanovski (2002/2003 — Germany)
	•	Kirill Zvegintsov (1983 — Ukraine)
	•	Sebastiano de Salvo (1997 — Italy)
	•	Mateusz Gwizdała (1993 — Australia / Poland)

Emma Tucker (2001 — USA) — Embrittlement

"Conditional" was commissioned by Wolftone (Ben Roidl-Ward, bassoon and William Overcash, *prepared* violin). Funding provided by the Luminarts Cultural Foundation.

An improvisatory piece built around the idea of a conditional relationship between the two performers, namely that the bassoonist is not allowed to participate in the piece until they hear the violinist perform a certain technique (a timbral "common ground") for a certain amount of time. 

These three interpretations were performed in a recording session on January 7, 2020, facilitated by James Edel (recording engineer).

Picture by Lisa Atkinson.

Burnt Shadows on Broken Mirrors

Aaron Zimmer

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