New Music

On May 2, 2014, Rafael Liebich performed What Lies Behind the Rain at the 4th annual Hear Now Festival. He played brilliantly, really owning the piece. The first review is in and here's what Paul Muller from Sequenza 21 has to say about it: What Lies Behind the Rain (2011)...

05 May, 2014 /

Here is what was included in the Thornton Edge program last week regarding my piece: Invisible Victories for large chamber ensemble I. Tempt the Present II. To See the End III. Breathe Invisible Victories represents a significant milestone in my life as both a composer and a student. Finished in...

21 April, 2014 /

I am happy to report that I have successfully defended my doctoral dissertation, my final obligation as a student. My dissertation is a 15-minutes work for 17 chamber musicians called Invisible Victories. Using one of each member of the orchestra (plus an additional violinist and percussionist), this...

27 January, 2014 /
This is a blog about music. Specifically, new music, but that will just be a general rule. I want to use this space to communicate some of my opinions and ideas about what I think about music culture, aesthetics, composers of different sorts, and probably healthy portions about me (it's MY blog after all!). To get started, I thought I would post a video of a piece that has really blown my mind lately. It's a piece by Alfred Schnittke, a Russian polystylist composer who spent most of his life behind the Iron Curtain. Schnittke is underrated. This is perhaps due to his post-modern tendencies, which for lesser composers can be a veil for lack of substance. That's not the case in this piece. Take a listen to the fifth movement of his Concerto Grosso No. 1 (1977).  It is a great example of how Schnittke freely takes from disparate styles to create an unpredictably effective result.
20 May, 2011 /