Composer
*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
Program Notes The second movement of my Sonata for Flute and Piano begins in a Hindustani (north Indian) raga called Ahir Bhairav. I love the dark, yearning nature of Ahir Bhairav — the way it feels so otherworldly, and seems to long for a place that is just out of reach. As the movement progresses, … Read more
Program Notes Darshan means ‘seeing’ in Hindi. In the Hindu religion, to give ‘darshan’ is to see and worship God. As Vijay and I worked on this music together over three years, we began to see the divine in one another. This movement, in Raag Charukeshi, is the first movement of five, which will be … Read more
Program Notes What if there was a concerto where the job of the soloist was to support the orchestra as much as the orchestra supported the soloist?This is the question that led to the creation of Concerto for You. In a typical concerto, the soloist performs with dazzling virtuosity for the audience, while an entire … Read more
Program Notes Varsha was originally written as a cello solo 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 … 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 … Read more
Program Notes Acharanga is a vibrant, driving piece that derives its name from the Acharanga Sutra — a sacred Jain text. While Jainism is a religion most commonly known for its peaceful preservation of all forms of life, the text that inspired this piece is fiery and prescriptive, imploring the listener to act and think … Read more
(*this work was originally written for SATB+cello) 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 … Read more
On the retitling of the work: As I wrote this piece, in the fall of 2017, the #metoo movement was raging around me. At that time, I decided to directly title this work #metoo as a challenge — which orchestras would agree to program a work that asked them and their audiences to engage with … Read more
(*this work was originally written for SATB+cello) 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 … Read more
Program Notes Meri Sakhi Ki Avaaz, at its core, is a piece about sisterhood. Each movement’s short text epitomizes the one of the many facets of having and being a sister. It is also about what sisterhood looks like when expanded beyond a single family or a single culture— when two women, from two different … Read more