A very long time ago, my mum dedicated a poem to me, beginning:

Мой мальчик извлекает звуки
из старенького пианино.
Нанизывает их на нитку слуха
и связывает воедино.

My boy draws sounds
from a dear old piano.
He strings them on the thread of hearing
and binds them into one.

This image of a thread – of sound, and as something that connects us – became the starting point for the piece, which is dedicated to my mum.

"Thread" for two violins was premiered by Anne Yin Han and Amalia Young at New Music for Two Violins and/or Two Pianos on 20 September 2025.

Thread

White Crane

Bundle of Tantrums

When I Was Your Man

The Modern Wedding Collection, Vol. 2

Flightless Bird, American Mouth (Wedding Version)

Los Angeles, California serves as home base for the concept group called Vitamin String Quartet. The group is made up of studio musicians who are brought together to interpret and record orchestra style covers of music from all types of genres ranging metal, techno, country, pop, rock and hip-hop dance music. While the quartet uses a wide assortment of artists and instruments, one fairly constant member of the group is violinist Tom Tally. Tally has been intimately involved in the composing, arranging and conduction of many songs on approximately 50 of the albums that have been recorded by the group. While the group is referred to as a string quartet, the reality is that more individuals are usually involved, using instruments such as violins, cellos, percussion, brass and woodwinds. The group was originally brought together in 1999 as an experimental project. They wanted to determine the effects of using classical style instruments to create new and different sounds on popular recordings. Early on, the FM broadcast station WWHK in Concord, NH would play the group's music 24 hours a day, every day, for a period of time. The popularity of the group's music has led to the music being featured on TV and in the movies. Credits include So You Think You Can Dance (2008), TV show The Vampire Diaries (2010), the 100th episode of Gossip Girl and the fifth season finale of Modern Family (2014). Throughout the years, the group has been involved in the recording of over 200 different albums. In 2009, the group stepped out of the box a bit and recorded some original material provided by some of the various musicians on the album Per_Versions.