My original music and arrangements have been performed at The White House, the Monterey Jazz Festival, the Texas Music Educator’s Association (TMEA), The NAMM Show, the North American Saxophone Alliance (NASA), and on CBS and ESPN. I’m passionate about writing music for both professional and student ensembles. Check out highlights from my catalog below.
Concert Music & More
This suite includes the traditional Chanukah songs Ma’oz Tzur, Mi Y’malel, the blessings over the candles, Sevivon, and Chanukah, O Chankuah! in a poignant, dynamic setting with a rousing finale!
This whimsical arrangement employs a narrator reading aloud from Olive, the Other Reindeer as the concert band accompanies the story. “Olive” tells the story of a Jack Russell Terrier named Olive who, after hearing the lyrics “all of the other reindeer,” mistakes herself for a reindeer, and travels to the North Pole to help Santa Claus deliver presents on Christmas Eve.
This interactive piece follows a sneaky pigeon on a holiday adventure, with a quirky new take on Leroy Anderson’s classic “Sleigh Ride.” Author Mo Willems is best known for his #1 New York Times bestselling picture books, which have been awarded three Caldecott Honors (Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!; Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale; Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity), and his celebrated Elephant and Piggie early reader series, which has been awarded two Theodor Geisel Medals and five Geisel Honors.
СПИ, ІСУСЕ, СПИ
A Ukrainian Carol
СПИ, ІСУСЕ, СПИ or ‘Sleep, Jesus, Sleep’ comes to us from Ukrainian composer and military chaplain Yosyp Kyshakevych. Born in 1872 in Leżajsk, Kyshakevych dedicated his life to both sacred and secular choral music. Sleep, Jesus, Sleep captures the solemnity and depth of Jesus asleep in a manger being lulled by His mother’s voice. I was proud to arrange this special tribute featuring Ukrainian soprano Alina Ilchuk, honoring the ongoing courage and determination of the Ukrainian people in their fight against incursion.
Three Humble Ditties
Songs of Charles Ives
Three Humble Ditties is a new setting of three songs by Charles Ives ("He is there!," "Songs my mother taught me," and "Son of a Gambolier"), curated from his 114 Songs originally published in 1922. The cycle is available for both a double wind quintet and a wind nonet of flute, oboe, bassoon, horn, clarinet in E♭, two clarinets in B♭, alto clarinet, and bass clarinet. Ives original arrangement of the third song in this cycle, “Son of a Gambolier,” calls for a “kazoo chorus,” to include flutes, fiddles, flageolets, piccolos, ocarinas, fifes, and trombones. This whimsical character has been maintained in this arrangement with the inclusion of kazoos for woodwind players to double.
Overture to Candide
Bernstein's Overture to Candide is a staple of the concert band and orchestral repertoire, and it was a delight to engage with the material in a chamber setting. This is a recording of my version for a nonet of piccolo, flute, 2 oboes (2nd doubling english horn), clarinet in B♭, bass clarinet, 2 horns in F, 2 bassoons, and I’ve also prepared a version for a double woodwind quintet.
for chamber winds
This medley features the classic Straighten Up and Fly Right, my Mancini-esque take on Fly Me to the Moon, and a new arrangement of The U.S. Air Force Song, scored in collaboration with Staff Sergeant Nattie McKay.
More big band music is coming soon!
Want to collaborate? For performance materials and commission inquiries, contact me here.
