Music

I started teaching myself music when I was 14, when a friend lent me his electric guitar. Other instruments I’ve picked up include tin whistle, mandolin, and French musette.

I later formally studied violin, Scottish bagpipes, voice, piano, tabla, and composition. I graduated with a joint BA/MA in composition from Hunter College in 2011.

Phototactic for solo piano

A taxis is an innate behavioral response by an organism to a directional stimulus or gradient of stimulus intensity. Phototaxis, is then the movement of an organism in response to light.

Rivages

Intermediate solo piano piece based on a Korean theme, Monggumpo.
Piano: Vasu Panicker.

Delicate structures for soprano saxophone, cello, and vibraphones

Delicate Structures is based on a highly melodic/rhythmic theme and its counterpoint. The theme appears out of nowhere in a modified form and is then being stated in its original form by the soprano saxophone, the cello and the vibraphone. An alternation of repetitive cells brings the piece to a climax before the theme disappears.

Half clarinet quartet for Bb and bass clarinets

The title is silly: I didn’t want to use the word duet, so I called it half quartet.

The music is a sonatina in three movements: fast, slow, fast. It’s rich in counterpoint and features some rhythms I like (7/8).

A better collapse for wind quintet

The original material for this wind quintet miniature was a choral piece sketch. This short piece was an exploration in timbral combinations, a way for me to learn.

I’m thankful that Washington Square Winds recorded it and featured it on their album.

Oboe trio arrangements: Threeds

I arranged Björk’s Joga and Radiohead’s Paranoid android for Threeds, a NY-based oboe trio.