Moonbeams and Satellites
(2022)
22′
for Kylwyria – Erica Dicker, violin, John Gattis, horn, Daniel Anastasio, piano
visuals by The Warp Whistle Project
Live premiere by the Network for New Music @ The University of the Arts, Caplan Recital Hall – Oct. 21, 2023 – Carlos Santiago, violin; Martina Adams, horn; Mark Livshits, piano
Snafu
(2019)
5′
premiered by the U Arts Handbell Ensemble – May 5, 2019
Jeffrey Kern, conductor
Improvisation
(2019)
9′
Jerod Sommerfeldt and Paul Schuette, synthesizers
“Improvisation is a game that the mind plays with itself, in which an idea is allowed to enter the playing field, in order to be kicked around in pleasing patterns for a moment before being substituted by another idea. The first idea is unintentional, an error, a wrong note, a fumble in which the ball is momentarily lost, a momentary surfacing of an unconscious impulse normally kept under cover. The play to which it is subjected is the graceful recovery of the fumbled ball, a second ‘wrong’ note that makes the first one seem right, the justification for allowing the idea to be expressed in the first place.”
“Improvisation tells us: Anything is possible – anything can be change – now.” -Frederic Rzewski
Still Life with Rhythms and Echoes
(2016)
9′
premiered by the CCM Wind Symphony – Oct. 17, 2018
Kevin Holzman, conductor
Shout Chorus
(2018)
11′
for loadbang ensemble
The Navigator
(2017)
25′
for violin, cello, piano, harp, and percussion
The Network for New Music Ensemble – Jan. 21, 2018 – The University of the Arts
View a sample of the score: The Navigator
Child’s Play
(2015)
10’30”
for any instrumentalist(s)
Erica Dicker, violin, Allen Otte, percussion – Constellation, Chicago, March 5, 2017
Erica Dicker, violin, Allen Otte, percussion – Spectrum, NYC, Dec 12, 2016
Erica Dicker, violin – U Arts, March 15, 2016
View a sample of the score: Child’s Play
Puzzle Pieces
(2015)
13’00”
a piano solo with live electronics
commissioned by Brianna Matzke for The Stockhausen Response Project
View a sample of the score: Puzzle Pieces.pdf
sliced attractor
(2014)
12’30”
a drum set solo for Zach Larabee
View a sample of the score: sliced attractor.pdf
Space-time Julienne: Part 2
(2013)
10′
for percussion trio, commissioned by Percussion Group Cincinnati, premiered March 15,
View a sample of the score: Spacetime Julienne II.pdf
Space-time Julienne: Part 1
(2013)
for 4.1 channel audio
Look to Third
(2011)
for alto flute, bass clarinet, percussion, piano, viola, cello and live electronics
18′
MOVEMENT I
MOVEMENT II
MOVEMENT III
View a sample of the score: Look to Third.pdf
Oscillator Etudes
(2012)
15′
performed by Lauren Fink, Shane Jones, Zach Larabee, and Tyler Niemeyer
GRAPHIC
DRONES
COUNTERPOINT
POLYRHYTHMIC
HETEROPHONY
View a sample of the score: Oscillator Etudes – Part #1.pdf
Improvisation with Erica Dicker
Recorded live at the Emery Theatre, Cincinnati, OH on Nov. 17, 2012
smudge
(2012)
for tuba and live electronics
7″
Genevieve Clarkson’s performance from Sonic Explorations in the Cohen Family Studio Theatre, CCM
Matthew Gray’s performance on Nov. 17, 2012 at The Emery Theatre
Complete Fragments
(2010)
for pipe organ
12′
View a sample of the score: Complete Fragments.pdf
Everything Must Come From Something
(2009)
7′ 30″
4 channel audio + video
diptych
(2008)
17′
a DUET for harpsichord, electronic piano, and live electronics
View a pdf of the score – diptych.pdf
feedback required
(2008)
for a handmade electronic instrument and audio feedback
8′
feedback required uses a computer controlled string instrument of my own construction. The performer generates sound from the instrument by creating electrical feedback from a set of speakers which is understood and processed by the computer. The performers input into the system is variable and random while the computers output is based on completely objective observations of that incoming data. The piece, in this sense, is about the struggle of the performer against the system, for the performer deprived of any exact control is forced to make subjective and conceptual decisions – highlighting the difference between the two.
. . . no news is good news
(2006)
for string quartet
20′
The score is based on the front pages of the New York Times from the week of April 5-10, 2006. While these are graphic scores, in some respects they demand inhumane exactness. This contradiction is meant to be an analog to the title which contains its own inherent paradox, for it can be interpreted as a cliche or quite literally. The form of the music is based on the distance between randomly chosen words. When performers encounter the words, they speak them out loud. While the score itself is quite literally fixed in time, as the years go on it’s sobering to observe how little has changed.
I. Monday, April 5, 2006
II. Tuesday, April 6, 2006
III. Wednesday, April 7, 2006
IV. Thursday, April 8, 2006
V. Friday, April 9, 2006
View the scores –
Using a recording of the piece by the Frequency String Quartet from my Fringe Festival show, Music for Newspapers and Radios, I turned the piece into an installation for my exhibit COMPOSITIONS.
disconnected
(2006)
for full orchestra
7′
View the score – disconnected.pdf
This piece opens with a fully orchestrated transcription of a now severely outdated technology – the dial-up internet modem. As the piece progresses, more organic materials contrast with this mechanical music. Eventually, as the modem music is passed between the various choirs of the orchestra, the original transcription becomes elongated beyond recognition.
Tomorrow?
(2003)
for 2 female voices and 2 male voices
10′
View the score – tomorrow?.pdf
The score for Tomorrow? is essentially a set of instructions for how to read from a newspaper. The idea being that the newspaper used in performance is from that day – making this a living piece about time and place. The performers are given instructions about what sections of the paper to read from and dramatic indications about how to read from those sections. The resulting sound is a cacophony of topical information that shifts from the serious to the sublime.
Media Counterpoint
(2003)
for piano, electric guitar, percussion, radios and sine tone generator
8′
DePaul University Concert Hall – Dec. 2003
Cincinnati Fringe Festival, Media Bridges – June 2011
View the score – Media Counterpoint.pdf