5 Ruminations (2011)

This experimental collaboration with choreographer Mira Treatman is scored for two bodies, two voices, fixed electronics, projector, and piano. The first movement is a poem of Mira’s, the satirical self-examination of a young woman. Each following movement examines other female identities, including mothers and marriage, culminating in a “remixed” collage of all of the previous movements. While the earlier movements reflect the social roles of everyday life, the last movement exposes the ridiculous in these roles, breaking the sound down into meaningless, fantastic sonic elements.

This piece was also an experiment in different types of performance. The first performance was a site-specific work, incorporating live music as well as recordings of the pieces. The second performance fully choreographed and premiered at the Jeanne Ruddy Performance Garage with recorded music, staged dance, and a projector.

Summer Songs (2010)

The summer after starting composition studies in undergrad, I returned to Philadelphia and wrote a series of songs with my high school friend and the multi-talented artist extraordinaire, Mira Treatman, on the edge of classical and popular taste. We tentatively called this genre “Baroque-cabaret-pop” before tiring of genre labels and instead calling ourselves “The Something Society”. The works are for two, occasionally three, voices and piano, and were sung in cafes and salons around Philadelphia.

Transcriptions available upon request.