Composer
Program Notes (Original notes from 2010) For some reason, I had always assumed that seamlessness was the goal in the creation of music. And on the contrary, I’ve always felt gaping seams in my own music that, no matter how many times I work and rework, are still stubbornly audible. It occurred to me recently … Read more
Program Notes It is difficult for me to find something insightful to say about a piece that is so close to my heart. I think Rilke’s text says it best. Recording This is a recording of the original version of Two Tones, for soprano, violin and piano. The tenor/cello version has not been recorded yet. … Read more
Program Notes The Blue Room is a concerto in two movements. The title was taken from a poem called White Key, by Carol Muske Dukes (the text of which I later set in its entirety for choir, in White Key). The line reads, “…like the light on the bed / In the blue room where … Read more
Program Notes It is difficult for me to find something insightful to say about a piece that is so close to my heart. I think Rilke’s text says it best. Recording This is a recording of the original version of Two Tones, for soprano, violin and piano. The oboe/English horn version has not been recorded … Read more
Program Notes It is difficult for me to find something insightful to say about a piece that is so close to my heart. I think Rilke’s text says it best. Recording Text Everything that touches us, me and you,Takes us together like a violin’s bowWhich draws one voice out of two separate stringsUpon what instrument … Read more
Program Notes It is difficult for me to find something insightful to say about a piece that is so close to my heart. I think Rilke’s text says it best. Recording Text Everything that touches us, me and you,Takes us together like a violin’s bowWhich draws one voice out of two separate stringsUpon what instrument … Read more
Program Notes I wrote this piece as a collaboration with dancer/filmmaker and dear friend Heather McCalden. Below is an excerpt from McCalden’s notes about her film “Figures of Speech”: The title of Reena’s music is derived from an essay by Jacques Derrida called, “The Loving in Friendship: Perhaps: – the Adverb, and the Noun”. The … Read more
Program Notes The Whole Story is a three movement oboe sonata I wrote for oboist Josiane Henry in 2005. It is an early piece for me, and rarely performed now, but it’s still in my catalog for an important reason. People often ask young composers to define their musical ‘voice’ — often prematurely. We can … Read more
Program Notes Below are the original notes that accompanied Elegism, which was one of my earliest substantive pieces of music. My close childhood friend’s father died suddenly and left our whole community in shock, and with so much grief. As an 18 year old, just beginning to understand how my thoughts translated into musical form, … Read more
Program Notes Chardonnay is one of my earliest pieces — I wrote it when I was seventeen years old, and just beginning to grapple with composition seriously. The piece is so indicative of where I was at that time in my life: it is inspired in equal parts by Debussy’s incredible solo flute piece Syrinx, … Read more