Audio Selections

Zapstar excerpt:

Zapstar was one of six compositions to be nominated for the 2003 Alea III Composition Award.  It had its premier in Boston Massachusetts with Theodore Antoniou conducting the performance.

Eclipse excerpt:

Eclipse was awarded 2nd Prize in the 2006 City of Klagenfurt Gustav Mahler Composition Prize. It received its first performance in Viktring Austria under the direction of Christoph Cech and the Janus Ensemble Vienna. Gerhard Marschner was the soloist and did a most excellent job.

Sugar Queen excerpt:

Sugar Queen is a ballet written for the Sonic Inertia Performance Group. This recording was made possible by a CAAP grant from the City of Chicago.

Synopsis: Sugar Queen is a collection of surreal and absurd images. It blends the sounds of both popular and contemporary art music by drawing on such influences as Jazz, Stravinsky, Zappa, Nancarrow, and others.

 

Dance 1: The Sugar Queen Takes a Walk: It’s a late afternoon in an imaginary landscape when the Sugar Queen goes for a casual stroll. Many peculiar things either distract her or catch her attention. Eventually she comes across an odd scene:

 

Dance 2: Weights and Bunnies: Several bunny-men are lifting and moving a collection of large objects. They become more and more excited by their endeavors.

 

Interlude I: The Sugar Queen shares an intimate moment with one of the bunny-men, which has caught her eye. They then go their separate ways.

 

Dance 3: Rituals and Angles: The Sugar Queen is surprised by the sudden entrance of several angular-men who seem to be doing some sort of ritualistic dance of self-admiration. Her presence temporarily distracts them and they scatter away. But she draws back when they bring out a large and complex machine. They quickly return to their ritualistic dancing and then pay homage to the machine.

 

Interlude II: An unnoticed pair of angular-men remains behind after the others have left. The Sugar Queen observes them sharing an intimate moment between themselves and the machine. The pair of angular-men appears to activate the machine.

 

Evocation of the Diva: A large explosion of colored lights emanates from the machine. From it the Diva emerges.

 

Dance 4: The Diva’s Dance of Death: The remaining angular-men and all of the bunny-men are drawn to the Diva, who begins to dance maniacally with all present. She expires in a flourish of activity in the arms of her devoted followers.

Photo: preparing for a Sonic Inertia Performance Group Concert: Inspirations of Glass

Three characteristics have remained with me through my stylistic changes and developments:

1.I like to compose moments where the music finds its resolve or purpose; or at least glimpses what  it thinks is its purpose. The ‘Ah ha!’ moments. As with real life, these clarifying moments can’t be sustained. They slip away...

2.I have always been attracted to the beauty of certain chords as if they were objects. I tend to either isolate or sustain them.

3.I am fascinated by the juxtaposition of both vernacular and abstract forms of expression. The vernacular draws from the rhythmic, harmonic, and melodic materials of popular music where as the abstract strives to be less defined in its meaning.