Instrumental

Small Ensemble

Conversations for electric guitar duo and backing track (2025)

First performed by LINÜ at the University of Virginia, February 2025

Conversations combines guitar music with a fixed media piece that I created using field recordings from the summer of 2024. These recordings, which were taken in two different locations (Milton of Campsie, Scotland and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in Ithaca, New York), include a range of timbres and textures, which I combined and processed in various ways to create the fixed media piece. The guitar parts use a repeated chord progression, over which various improvisatory textures and melodic lines are played relatively freely. The structure of the music loosely follows the temporal structure of the fixed media piece, which incorporates noticeable changes in texture and timbre at certain time points. The sparseness and simplicity of the guitar music allows for freedom and flexibility in how the guitarists choose to engage with the fixed media piece, focusing on aspects such as timbre, dynamics, density, and texture. This intertwining of live music and fixed media soundscape creates an organic conversation, hence the title of the piece.

Cruise Control for alto saxophone, piano, electric guitar, and percussion (2024)

First performed by Hypercube at the University of Virginia, February 2024

The foundation of this piece is a driving groove in 7/4 time. Irregular time signatures are featured prominently, along with complex rhythmic interplay among the members of the ensemble. They work together to drive the piece, much like the components of a car work in tandem to maintain the car’s speed. The consistent pace persists throughout multiple themes and transitions, eventually giving way to an increasingly chaotic and fast texture that comes to a screeching halt. The car then lurches forward into new variations on the original theme, and the piece culminates with a sudden slam on the brakes. 

? for tenor saxophone and percussion (2023)

First performed by Popebama at the University of Virginia, February 2023

This piece isn't sure what it wants to be, so I thought that "?" would be an apt name. It has many different musical elements fused together, including fixed media, funky grooves, crazy solos, and lots of mallet percussion. Overall, my intention with this piece was to create something that was fun and silly, and that wasn't meant to be taken too seriously.

Jazz Ensemble

Butternut Squash for variable jazz instrumentation (2023)

3.4.3 for jazz piano trio

Orchestra and Chamber

Morning Overture (2018, revised 2024)

First performed by members of the Princeton University Orchestra at Princeton University in May 2018; also performed by the Charlottesville Symphony at the University of Virginia and at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Performing Arts Center (Charlottesville High School) in February 2025

I composed Morning Overture in 2018 as my senior thesis piece, and in 2024, I completed minor revisions on the piece. The piece tells the story of a morning unfolding through the introduction and development of several themes.

Quartet Op. 1 “Sparrow” (2017)