Recent Compositions

I mostly compose art music for acoustic instruments but am always looking for intriguing collaborations. I self-publish my music through the Magic Line Edition imprint (ASCAP). Please contact me for information about current projects, audio samples, scores and parts, or to inquire about commissioning a new work.

Hyalite Ice for Flute, Viola, and Harp (2024)

My most recent piece, Hyalite Ice, I composed for members of Third Angle New Music. The work’s title refers to Montana’s Hyalite Canyon, which is home to world-class ice climbing. I am editing the music presently and look forward to a premiere in 2025.

Ghost Town Sounds for Piano Trio (2022)

I wrote Ghost Town Sounds for the Galan Trio, who visited IUP during April of 2022. The piece is set of vignettes inspired by a National Recreation Trail near Indiana, PA. A recording of Ghost Town Sounds is available from Neuma Records.

Perusal Score

Audio Samples:
Blacklick (mm. 10-29)
Claghorn (mm. 21-31)
Buena Vista (mm. 30-48)

Six Studies for Piano (2021)

I composed these short studies for my father, who took up piano during retirement. They are moderate in difficulty and involve technical issues like finger substitution, repeated notes, and hands-crossed playing. Each is set in a different diatonic mode.

Perusal Score

Audio Sample:
V. Accompanied Canon in A Mixolydian

La Tierra Yerma for Soprano and Piano Trio (2020)

La Tierra Yerma (Desert Land) is a setting of Pedro Salinas's eponymous poem that I created for soprano Mary Logan Hastings and the Litton Piano Trio. The poem is drawn from Salinas’s Presagios (1924), which I discovered through David Garrison’s translation.

Perusal Score

Audio Sample:
Measures 97-113

Chaconne for Saxophone, Flugelhorn, and Piano (2020)

I wrote Chaconne at the invitation of saxophonist James Flowers, my colleague at IUP. Like most works in the genre, it is a set of variations, these based on the opening saxophone melody. Chaconne is dedicated to the memory of Shane Michael Farrell.

Perusal Score

Audio Sample:
Measures 36-48

Berceuse for Piano (2019)

I composed this short instrumental lullaby to celebrate the birth of my niece, Lola Heydari.

Perusal Score

Audio Sample:
Measures 1-80

Cascades for Woodwind Quintet (2017)

Cascades is a three-movement work inspired by my time in the Pacific Northwest, particularly Washington’s North Cascades National Park. I wrote it for the Faculty Woodwind Quintet at IUP.

Perusal Score

Audio Sample:
Allegro animato, mm. 67-87

Salinas Songs for Soprano and Piano (2016)

Salinas Songs is a setting of three poems from Pedro Salinas’s Seguro azar: “El árbol menos,” “Navacerrada, abril,” and “Los despedidos.”

Capriccio for Piano (2015)

Capriccio is a flashy work that I wrote at the invitation of pianist Patrick Connolly. It is a composite of several sketches linked by a single motif.

Cycles for Piano (2014)

Commissioned by the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford in celebration of their 50th anniversary, Cycles is a four-movement work inspired by the ebb and flow of academic life.