The first thing that I feel the need to explain about this piece is that the title is cynical. This piece is about gun violence, and about the permanence of consequences. I debated internally for quite a while about whether or not this was my piece to write, or more accurately, whether it was appropriate for me to give voice to my own opinions on the subject in such a public way. It seems apparent that there are a growing number of people whose lives are cut short or torn apart by these disgusting events. This work is the manifestation of my own personal reactions to a seemingly unending stream of headlines in the summer of 2015, relaying the details of death after death after death of innocent people. The persistent (daily, in fact) influx of news of more mass murder had an increasingly intense impact on myself and those around me. The feeling of inability to effect change on the matter is a common one that I have felt and heard expressed by many people. This work explores the effects of violent choices. Once a dire action is taken, there is a short while when its consequences have not yet occurred but when those consequences become inevitable; when those involved become helpless to change the outcome of what is happening.  "…Ask Questions Later” is an exploration of the brief moment of inevitability between an explosion and its impact. I do not presume to offer a solution for the current state of things, but I do hope to call further attention to an urgent problem that absolutely must be solved. 

...Ask Questions Later

  "Banter, Bicker, Breathe” is a piece for guitar and harp that explores three conversations that take place between a romantic couple. Neither of the instruments is meant to represent a specific role or type of person within a given relationship. Instead, the exchanges between these two similar yet very different instruments parallel the relationship itself. I hope that both listeners and musicians will create their own interpretation of this piece’s narrative. To me, the piece moves through three distinct conversations: an excited relaying of a story that is handed off from one person to the other, a bitter argument, and lastly, a series of intimate whispers.

Banter Bicker Breathe

Performance by the Juilliard Orchestra And Jeff Milarsky from April 28th at Alice Tully Hall

Aft Agley

Interle[a]ve explores the possibility of hearing multiple musical ideas progress at once. 6 separate atmospheres grow throughout the piece, as the listener's point of view cuts between them. This is similar to the technique of cross-cutting in film that allows multiple plot lines to be told simultaneously. This piece was commissioned by the New York City Ballet in 2017 as part of their Choreographic Institute.

Interle[a]ve

Palette

For the two years before I composed this piece I had been living with a growing sense of negativity and unease. This was in part due to the drastic developments in world events that have gone on in recent years, but it felt as though there was an even deeper more permeating cause. This was a feeling I noticed not only in myself but in many others around me regardless of age, gender, race, income, political affiliation, or religion and I began to wonder what specifically could be affecting so many people in this way. About ten years ago, or so, we experienced a dramatic shift in the way our society operates with the advent of social media. My sense is that as we strive to become more and more connected, more ‘social’, we in fact only become more easily distracted and distanced from our own authentic experience. With this constant influx of information, whether it be entertainment, communication, or news, we are continuously prompted with distractions and left with frustration or dissatisfaction in place of real connection or experience. This piece of music reflects that sense of constant intrusion and the anxiety that stems from being so consumed by it.

fEED

Chimera

Originally from Goffstown, New Hampshire, Will Stackpole (b. 1990) is a young American composer whose works have been played across the country. Stackpole began his musical career as an electric guitarist and recording engineer, primarily performing in rock bands in his home state and later in Hoboken, NJ. While attending Stevens Institute of Technology for his undergraduate studies, Stackpole began writing concert music and quickly developed a unique compositional voice. Will spent the next two years studying composition with Justin Dello Joio while working in New York as a freelance composer and orchestrator for theater, film, and television. Stackpole has since refocused his efforts on creating conceptually innovative concert music. His work is made up of an eclectic blend of styles and influences ranging across a wide spectrum, from opera to rock, from Miles Davis to Igor Stravinsky. Will is currently pursuing his Doctorate in composition at The Juilliard School in the studio of Robert Beaser.

Will Stackpole

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