Composer
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 Here are the original program notes for this work, written in 2006: The first time I encountered “A Ritual to Read to Each Other” was five years before I wrote this piece, on September 10th, 2001. I remember the date primarily because it marked the first class of my freshman year at Juilliard … Read more
Program Notes Having grown up Catholic, this prayer holds such a deep personal significance for me. I wrote simple setting for women’s chorus during a time in my life where I was trying to connect the threads between my history and my future — and looking for guidance and grace. Recording See video above Text … Read more
Program Notes (There are no program notes available for this piece at this time) Recording Premiere/Performances This piece was commissioned and premiered by Karen Bogardus. It was premiered in June 2006 by Karen Bogardus (flute), Orlando Wells (viola) and Diane Michaels (harp)
Program Notes (Unfortunate Coincidence is an early work – I wrote it when I was 22 years old and studying at the Juilliard School) Dorothy Parker’s often ironic poetry is a reflection of her existence: she often expressed a penchant for death, attempting suicide multiple times, and yet she lived to the age of 74. … 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 (original notes from 2004 – I wrote this piece as an undergraduate at Juilliard) Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra has always resonated with me. It seems so vast and varied, and so perfectly and ingeniously constructed that there is always something new to be found in it. In these variations, I have taken the first phrase … 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
Information I wrote Desire when I was 17 years old — it was one of the very first pieces I ever wrote. The recording below is me, playing it at my high school senior recital with clarinetist Helen Goode-Castro. I don’t typically allow the score and parts out into the world for professional performances. I … Read more