The introduction of Gray Echoes is a slow movement featuring winding melodic lines. These lines are stated by a single instrument and then are fragmented and echoed by the rest of the ensemble, often at different speeds and in a contrasting timbre.

Joshua Peiffer, Flute
Tao Ke, Bass Clarinet
Micah Lee, Viola
Asim Kapoor, Cello
Mitchell Beckmann, Percussion

Performed on March 1st, 2026 in Mixon Hall

At the Crossroads is dedicated to my friends and classmates at CIM who at the time of writing were living through a semester filled with uncertainty and difficult decisions. This piece is a tribute to the hardships those students faced: travelling across the country for auditions, adjusting to new teachers, endless worry about the future, and most of all, making the difficult decision of whether to leave or stay. In the end, four of the original five members of the quintet transferred out of CIM. The piece’s melodic material is based on The Parting Glass, an Irish folk song about saying goodbye.

Tao Ke, Clarinet
Olivia Gill, Violin 1
Nikolas Scheiber-Loeis, Violin 2
Micah Lee, Viola
Megan Kamysz, Cello

Performed on November 14th, 2025 in Mixon Hall

Selections from “Verses upon the Burning of our House, July 10th, 1666” by Anne Bradstreet:

In silent night when rest I took,
For sorrow near I did not look,
I wakened was with thund’ring noise
And piteous shrieks of dreadful voice.

That fearful sound of “fire” and “fire,”
Let no man know is my Desire.

I, starting up, the light did spy,
And to my God my heart did cry
To straighten me in my Distress
And not to leave me succourless.

Then, coming out, behold a space
The flame consume my dwelling place.

A price so vast as is unknown,
Yet by His gift is made thine own;
There‘s wealth enough, I need no more,
Farewell, my pelf, farewell, my store.

The world no longer let me love,
My hope and treasure lies above.

Ro Alia, Soprano
Zhaoyi Wang, Piano

Performed on November 14th, 2025 in Mixon Hall

In the Night’s Shadow was born out of a long compositional journey that started back in the fall of 2024. I originally wrote the piece to be performed in a studio recital, with the intention of writing a chamber work that would help me explore the endless possibilities of composing for percussion. Although not a programmatic work, the piece took inspiration from horror movie soundtracks, as listeners of the early drafts compared the emotional and textural material of the piece to that of a thriller score. After its first performance in late 2024, I felt that there was much more that I could do with the piece, and I decided to completely rework it. I kept the overall structure and added new melodic and harmonic elements, along with refining the ideas and motives I liked from the original score. Throughout the process I explored many different ways to structure the piece (including a short-lived fully twelve-tone draft), before settling on a final version that balances both structural and melodic interest and the original draft’s dark and chilling atmosphere.

AMERICAN MODERN ENSEMBLE
Eden Treado, conductor
Matt Ward, percussion
Michael Jorgensen, violin
JJ Johnson, viola
Laura Metcalf, cello
Jeff Campbell, double bass

Performed on June 5th, 2025 at the Mostly Modern Festival

Written for the American Modern Ensemble at the Mostly Modern Festival

AMERICAN MODERN ENSEMBLE
Erin Bodnar, conductor
Joseph Rebman, harp
JJ Johnson, viola
Jeff Campbell, double bass

Performed on June 13th, 2024 at the Mostly Modern Festival

Written for Tao Ke, David Lawrence, and Eleanor Pompa

Out of the Stillness is a piece I wrote for my friends and roommates Tao Ke, David Lawrence, and Eleanor Pompa. The first movement conjures the image of a still lake at night, with the wind whistling through the trees and a chorus of frogs in the background. The second movement offers a glimpse into the dark shadows of the surrounding forest, where mysterious creatures scurry through the underbrush until the first rays of sunlight pierce through the mist.

Performed on February 25th, 2024 in Mixon Hall

In collaboration with piccoloist Zoe Stier

Flurries of Hope is the result of a close collaboration with the incredible piccoloist Zoe Stier. The framework for the piece is loosely based on “The Legend of the Sleeping Bear”, a traditional folktale from Michigan, where Zoe grew up. Though I used the story as an inspiration for the work, at times the music’s emotional content completely contrasts the gloomy and mournful folktale.

Performed on October 28th, 2023 in Mixon Hall

Written for the SoRi Trio

Performed on May 15th, 2023 for the New York Youth Symphony’s Composition Date Performance at National Sawdust