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Study In Process I Study In Process II Study In Process III Study in Process- ~ 6'30" (2003) for string quartet There are three movements in the piece and each focuses on a specific compositional process employing very limited pitch material, palindromic figures and serial techniques. Because I was interested in working through various processes, the piece never attained a finished feel, which is why I called it a study. The River-Merchant's Wife The River-Merchant's Wife- ~ 11'00" (2002) for female voice, shakuhachi (flute), piano and percussion “The River-Merchant’s Wife” was intended as a piece for a smaller, chamber ensemble, inspired by the acoustic qualities of the shakuhachi, a Japanese bamboo flute. The text selected for this piece comes from Ezra Pound’s The River-Merchant’s Wife: A Letter. It is a poetic English version of a Japanese translation of the eighth century Chinese poet Li-Po’s original text. The poem appeared in 1915 in the collected poetry volume Cathay: Translations. Although Pound is one of the most famous modern poets, the original eastern spirit of the poem rises throughout the layers of translation. There remains a very strong connection to nature and its sensual qualities, as well as a simplicity and sentiment similar to many stories from folklore. The poem comments upon the life of a young Chinese girl growing into a mature woman, but can also be read as a philosophical commentary upon the nature of childhood and maturity, life, love and death. Butterfly was Flying Butterfly was Flying- ~ 15’00” (2002) for orchestra and female choir The piece uses a traditional Bulgarian folk song by the same name. This song is associated with a prayer for rain from the ritual known as "German". The original melody is stated fully in its first appearance in the female choir but is altered thereafter. This work is a part of a larger project which will involve dance, theater and electro-acoustic music. The Sea And I The Sea And I- ~ 4’00” (2002) for solo trumpet This piece was inspired by a poem of the same name by Petya Dubarova, a young poetess from the Black Sea region of Bulgaria. Many connections exist between the subject matter of the poem and the memories, experiences and emotions of my own childhood in the city of Varna on the Black Sea coast. The poetess demonstrates an intense connection with the sea by speaking in visceral and tactile detail about the different elements that make up this shoreline scene in which she participates, the heat of mussels held in her hand or the tang of salt in the sea foam. She is overcome by sadness when she must depart and end this embrace with nature and exorcizes this sorrow through an internalization of her experience, despite her separation from the physical presence of the sea. The way I "translated" the poem into music is by inventing a system of correspondences between letters of the Bulgarian Alphabet and a set of given pitches. The organization of the letters in the poem thus determines the sequences of pitches in this piece, which are then grouped into various rhythmic structures, registers and dynamics in order to express, in musical language, the feelings and ideas of the various lines from the poem. Transience Transience- indeterminate duration (2000) for orchestra Transience explores orchestral timbres in a range of non-traditional combinations as well as all the full sonic spectrum between what we consider sound and noise. Each orchestral section (winds, strings, percussion) is given an opportunity to experiment with their own timbre and contrast with other instrument groups. Transience is very much a chamber piece in the fact that at no point does the whole orchestra play together. The structure of the piece is based on the alternation between fixed and improvisational sections. The improvisations allow for solo and unusual chamber groupings in which the performers, based on certain instructions, determine the outcome of the performance each time anew. There is also a duality paralleled in the overall harmonic structure. Each section is based on a collection of six pitches utilizing either more dissonant or consonant intervals. Three Miniatures for Piano I Three Miniatures for Piano II Three Miniatures for Piano III Three Miniatures for Piano- ~ 7'00" (1999) This is one of my earliest compositions. Gathering Adagio Gathering Allegretto Gathering- ~ 6'00" (1998) for flute, piano and percussion This piece is one of my earliest compositions. It consists of two contrasting movements, one meditative and the other energetic and based on irregular meters.