Composer
Program Notes forthcoming Recording See video above (beginning at 4:10) Special Performance Requirements This piece is written specifically for a combination of professional and community singers. It is designed to create a warm performance environment for those who might have never been on a stage before — by partnering with singers who are very comfortable … Read more
Program Notes The first time I heard Samuel Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915, it changed my life. I was fourteen years old, and as I sat under the stars at the beautiful Ford Theater on a summer night in in Los Angeles with my parents, I completely identified with the voice of the child who … Read more
Program Notes Crystal Preludes is a collection of five years of experiments in my piano writing. Of the 12 preludes in this set, some are expansions of material that exist in earlier works (such as my Piano Trio, Godsongs, et al), some are preliminary sketches for future works, and some are that just ideas that … Read more
Program Notes This song for soprano/mezzo, piano and violin was originally the fifth movement of my oratorio, eponymously titled This Love Between Us. The text comes from a variety of translations of ancient saint-poet Kabir’s writings, and from the Isa Upanishad. The original version starts and ends with a duet. The violin line was originally … Read more
Program Notes Blaze is a work in progress. The audio below is the first iteration of an ongoing exploration with violinist Shalini Vijayan and tabla player T.J. Troy. While I’ve written extensively for the violin, tabla writing is new to me, and this is just the beginning of my exploration of the vast possibilities of … Read more
Program Notes As a companion piece to Victoria’s O Vos Omnes, I chose to set a beautiful text by the 14C Persian poet Hafiz. The text of O Vos Omnes is asking, simply, to be seen in a moment of sorrow — to be beheld through suffering and darkness. And Hafiz’s text responds in such a beautiful way … Read more
Program Notes Varsha was written for the Haydn Seven Last Words project, for Juilliard415. The project commissioned seven composers (including Nico Muhly, Paola Prestini, Jessica Meyer, Tania Leon, Caroline Shaw and Colin Jacobsen) to write interludes between each of the Haydn quartets. This piece, Varsha, serves as an interlude between Sonata V (Sitio – “I Thirst”) … Read more
Program Notes She Will Transform You is centered around a beautiful poem of Indian-American author Neelanjana Banerjee. She speaks about the beautiful relationship of an immigrant and her child to their country of origin, and the significant role a child from both cultures has in bridging the divide between them. As a child of immigrants, I have felt both that distance … Read more
Program Notes This bhajan arrangement (based on a tune by Ninu Majumdar, with words from the ancient Indian saint-poet Barabas) has a message that is so relevant to our time — it is a plea for focus in a distracted world. It begs for the strength to focus on a higher purpose when illusion and … Read more
Program Notes these program notes were written by Aaron Grad, ahead of the premiere performance of the work, in November 2019 “I wish I could live in India and America at the same time,” says Reena Esmail (b. 1983), the daughter of Indian immigrants who has become one of the most respected young composers in … Read more
*please note: while this is the original version of the work, it is also the least performed one, because it is quite fiddly! If you want the more streamlined version, it’s here. Program Notes This is one of those stories that has the aura of a myth, but sometimes these little miracles happen to each … Read more
Program Notes (forthcoming) Recording See video above. For Beyond, a full length album of bhajan arrangements performed by Saili Oak and Salastina Music Society, composed by participants of the Shastra Summer Collaborative, click here. Special Performance Requirements This piece requires a Western classical string quartet, and a Hindustani singer. The piece is relatively challenging for … Read more