Selective Portfolio
Palette Cleanser (2025)
For Solo Viola & Live Electronics
Palette Cleanser uses manipulated viola samples paired with harmonies inspired by Arvo Pärt’s tintinnabula style to explore three distinct sound worlds, derived from and inspired by the viola's timbre. Sounds and loops are triggered by the performer using a MAX patch to provide an accompaniment that can accommodate the flexibility of the live violist as they navigate guided improvisations, open lyrical passages, and intense fiddle-inspired lines that showcase the instrument’s range and virtuosity. Written in collaboration with the violist Jake Pietroniro, this composition was created as part of a project to produce accessible electroacoustic works for performers who have felt intimidated or reticent to incorporate electronics into their repertoire.
“Meditation” (2024)
From Loops, Swoops, and Other Sounds | Volume 1
The track “Meditation,” from Loops, Swoops, and Other Sounds | Volume 1, began as an experiment in digital modular synthesis using the VCV Rack software. Using a mix of sequencers, LFOs, random voltage generators, and automated signal routing, two oscillators are passed through several signal processors and effects to create a generative ambient landscape. The resulting piece of music invites the listener to revel in the sweet, harmonious moments while asking them to accept and experience momentary clashes of dissonance and distortion with grace.
Meet Me Where I Have Been (2023)
Five Movements for Chamber Orchestra & Fixed Media
Meet Me Where I Have Been is an appreciation of art in everyday life.
I’ve always been proud of my background but self-conscious about coming from a place that I thought of as “uncultured.” However, I look back and see that music and the arts have always been central to my family and me. These moments are not considered “high art,” they’re rarely noticed when you’re already immersed in that environment, but these small artistic interactions are exceptional and central to daily life. My intention with this work is not to weigh the importance of different cultural backgrounds or to suggest artistic pedestals. Instead, the purpose is to express how our singular intimate relationship with art is so significant.
The suite uses audio sources found in the American Folklife Project’s collection in the Library of Congress. Each movement focuses on a single recording, with the overall framework being art in hidden places. Using recordings from the collection, my goal has been to emphasize the areas of life in which we interact with art but do not always notice its presence or importance.
Tracks for the first four movements can be found here
body_scapes, N°1 | Source Realized (2021)
Fixed Media & Video
body_scapes is an ongoing fixed media project in which the music is created from sound captured on different parts of the body.
The inspiration comes from practicing meditation and noticing the various sounds and hums that would arise during deep breathing. Using a stethoscope microphone placed over the heart and a contact microphone on the neck, I recorded multiple meditations, breathing exercises, and vocal improvisations as the basis for my pool of samples, which would then inform the direction of each composition.
body_scapes, N°1 | Source Realized (the first piece in the series) comes from the first few meditation sessions, when I noticed my resting heart rate was abnormally fast. As I continued these sessions, I noticed that when I exhaled, I would start humming. When I first realized this was happening, I would shy away from it, but I soon understood it would be better to just allow these moments to come through. As I did, the heart rate slowed, and the more and more I let this hum out, the more in tune with myself I felt.
The title of this work, Source Realized, suggests there’s a voice inside us we may shy away from. Our true thoughts, feelings, and aspirations can be repressed, and we can begin to become numb to who we are as individuals. But letting it out, even if in small doses over a long period of time, can start to heal us
Read more about the body_scapes project here