Listening
This page serves to highlight examples of my work. The full catalogue with sample scores + audio can be found under “Music.”
Beauty, Wonder, and Fantasy
Music centered on beauty, wonder, nature, and imagined worlds.
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Creation myths/origin stories provide an important framework for a large majority of the world's religions, both past and present. None is more widely known than that of Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden. With Jews, Christians, and Muslims sharing the tradition of Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden, more than 4.4 billion people (over half the world's population) follow this tradition.
In this piece, I take an abstract view of the Garden of Eden; the ideal of an earthly paradise in which humanity can be free from want and destruction. I aim to embody these ideals by creating an deep sense of peace and unbridled love for nature that is contrasted with more energetic and harmonically venturous music that takes influence from non-classical music, representing the desire to stray from the path.
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Arcana Mysteria is a homage to a bridge between my childhood and the present: my love for music and epic fantasy. As a kid, the first series of “big kid” books that I read was the Harry Potter series. I viewed the series as a great training tool because it starts around 220 pages and ends around 610 pages. From there, I read series such as The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel, Percy Jackson & the Olympians, and more. I basked in the great tales of magic, monsters, myth, and heroes. Even today, I still read epic fantasy series such as the Poppy Wars, Covenant of Steel, the Mistborn Trilogy, and more. “Arcana” comes from Latin and means “secrets.” During the Renaissance, this word was used to refer to the mysteries of the physical and spiritual world. “Arcane” has since been adopted into epic fantasy to mean magic since magic is what exists in between the mysteries of the physical and spiritual world. In this piece, I pay homage to these great stories and imagine one of my own, full of mystery and magic.
Arcana Mysteria was premiered by the Neave Trio in June, 2023, as part of the Mostly Modern Festival.
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In times of darkness, we tend to hold ourselves together with the promise of a better tomorrow. Promises Unfolding is about the realization of this promise—the arrival of the new and the dismissal of the old.
This composition emerges in the wake of completing my master’s thesis composition, Perception vs. Reality. That work marked the culmination of the most difficult and stressful creative period that I have experienced thus far. Composed in the early months of 2024 and finished just after spring began, its completion truly felt like spring had come—the season of renewal, the season of rebirth.
Promises Unfolding intentionally manifests an atmosphere of hope and realization. At its inception, the piece utilizes a pentatonic scale and rotational arrays, evoking the image of a blossoming flower—an emblem of growth and new beginnings. The music is distinctly consonant, with a texture that provides ample space for listeners to reflect on the harmonies—a contemplative exploration of sound that resonates with the idea of transformation and new possibilities.
The piece reaches a structural climax with a hymn-like section, underscoring the sense of reverence and exaltation associated with renewal. This climactic moment not only heightens the emotional impact of the piece but also serves as a powerful reminder of the enduring human spirit and our capacity for hope and transformation.
Inner Worlds
Music exploring perception, neurodivergence, memory, and the private landscape of the mind.
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Outside of music, I have always been extremely interested in psychology. “Perception versus Reality” refers to the psychological phenomenon that what we perceive is different from what reality is. Our perception is inescapably colored by our experience. Our perceived reality is instead a subjective and dynamic construct influenced by our individual perspectives and personal history, often seen through a lens tinted with pessimism.
The first movement, Reality, starts with the call of the white-throated sparrow, which I heard in my front yard one atypically warm November day. In the introduction to the movement, I aimed to create the warm, glowing feeling of a peaceful day. I utilize the birdcall alongside quintal harmony. Throughout the rest of the movement, I maintain driving energy punctuated by a conversational, playful melody in the entirety of the ensemble, with instances of imitation. There is a brief instance of a “fever dream” in which the tempo suddenly slows, and the sounds become undulating. This is followed by a return to the original tempo and a sharp ramp to the end of the movement. The harmony throughout the entire movement gradually transforms from consonant open chords to harsh clusters, setting the stage for the second movement.
The second movement, Perception, is a double canon based on an (0123) set. The set is treated using klangfarbenmelodie, with the temporal space between notes compressing as the canon develops. Once the canon reaches its apex, cluster chords suddenly take over the texture. Then, the canon reignites, this time cascading, until it bottoms out at the cluster broken into 2-instrument pairs, alternating beats. Eventually, the energy swells again, and the entire set is finally stated as a unified melody. The movement concludes by bringing back the canons from the beginning, though they are spaced apart and fade away until the final unusually voiced non-tertian chord.
The third movement, Hope, recalls the open harmonies of the first movement and is a bright, fast-paced close to the piece. Like the first movement, this movement is broken up into a slower introduction, followed by a fast-pased middle, and topped off with a heroic, slower ending. I believe that after such darkness in “Perception,” the work should end on a hopeful note.
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When we are children, we experience the world for the first time and everything is new and innocent. As we grow and we begin to realize that the beautiful world is a little darker than we once thought, we start to ask ourselves abstract questions about life. This piece is about the three musings of a child growing up.
1. What is goodness?
2. Is there always goodness?
3. Can there be goodness without darkness?