Composer
Program Notes Most Indians will immediately recognize Teen Murti as name of the New Delhi residence of the first prime minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru. The residence, which now serves as an incredible cultural resource (library, museum, and planetarium) is named for the sculpture that stands in front of it. ‘Teen Murti’ means three statues, figures, or … Read more
Program Notes When writing this piece, to be based upon Indian folksong, I cast a wide net for source material – I scoured the internet and my large collection of Indian music, listening to everything from Bengali Bauls, Rajasthani folk singing. I even tried to find songs from Goa and Gujarat, the places my parents … Read more
Program Notes Nadia Anjuman (1980-2005) was a brilliant young Afghan poet whose life was tragically cut short, as she was brutally murdered by her own husband at the age of 25. Many of her poems express her feelings of being censored and unable to say what is in her mind and heart– something she was … Read more
Program Notes Tasveer marks a very special point for me as a composer. During the 2011-2012 year, I was living in India on a Fulbright grant, studying Hindustani classical music. My days there were filled with music, between Hindustani vocal lessons, attending concerts, constantly meeting new musicians and playing with them. I was so busy … Read more
Program Notes Program Notes (Western audience): One of the most fascinating raags I have yet encountered in my study of Hindustani music is Raag Basant. Basant means ‘spring’ in Hindi, but it couldn’t be further from the Western conception of the season. Against a canvas of chirping birds and pastel colors, Basant feels dark and exotic, rendered in bold colors, … Read more
Program Notes This Piano Quintet is an incredibly special piece in my catalog. It is in this piece that I began exploring elements of Hindustani classical music for the first time. My path to Hindustani classical music was circuitous: at the point I wrote this piece, I had been yearning for years to understand the … Read more
Program Notes One of my very first pieces of music was a solo flute piece called Chardonnay, written in 2000. Ten years later, when the commission came for this piece, it was with the stipulation that it be called Zinfandel. At this rate, I’m hoping to write a solo woodwind piece every ten years, named … Read more
Program Notes Carol Muske-Dukes’s poem, White Key, evokes the feeling of suspension. A woman makes the difficult journey by plane back to her home after receiving the news of her husband’s sudden death. As she is suspended in the air between two cities, she is also suspended between two lives, between a beautiful past and the uncertain … Read more
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 Even though my heritage is Indian, most of my early musical training was exclusively in Western classical music. It was only since 2010 that I began to learn about and explore Hindustani (North Indian) classical music, and incorporate its elements into my work. Though the combination of the unique resultant sounds of these … 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