Press

Read the Observer Article Here
Read the Case Western News Center Article Here
Read the Case Western Reserve University P.R. Article About the Alizarin Video-Game Here

Publication

Alphonse LeDuc publishing has agreed to publish my arrangement of the Bozza Aria (for alto sax and strings), and distribute it through Europe and Asia. The American distribution will be handled by Theodore Presser publications. This makes me the youngest person to be published by LeDuc (and as I understand, it's one of the largest publishing houses in Europe).

New Commission

I have just accepted a commission to create a "Relaxation CD" as part of a free program for Case students from the office of educational support services. I will be composing all 60 minutes of music, as well as shooting photography for the cover, designing and implementing graphics, and arranging for packaging and distribution. The estimated completion time for this project is December.

More Bozza Aria News

I have just learned that Gregory Banaszak (Grammy nominated saxophonist) will be recording my Bozza Aria arrangement (under LeDuc publications) this summer with a new orchestra under the direction of Krzystof Penderecki. The title of the album is "Romances for Saxophone and Orchestra", and it will be released by Centaur Records, at a date TBA. They speculate that this will be the first track on the album.

Advanced Video Game Design

My application was accepted to work on a new video game development project. I will be responsible for composing a dynamic score and acting as sound manager. I will be working with professors and students from all around the CASE campus. The idea behind the game is that your character will create beauty and art throughout her/his journey. We are still in preproduction, so there is no music yet.

Kennedy Award

Today, after my quartet performed my Alma Mater arrangement, I was awarded the Kennedy Award for excellence in musical creativity from the Case Western Alumni Association.

Titania Recording

Today marks the performance and recording of my newest piece Titania by the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra. The piece itself runs just over 3 minutes and is best described as a dichotomy between florid, yet minimalist, phrases and a lush forest environment.

SOURCE Award Winner

The "Support of Undergraduate Research and Creative Endeavors" association has posted its list of students who will be receiving a grant to stay at school over the summer and work on projects. I was the only recipient to get a grant for an artistic endeavor. Over the summer, I plan to complete a piece I'm calling "Hamelin, After the Rats". It will be a 6 movement work that picks up the Pied Piper story right after the townspeople refuse to pay the Piper.

Acoustics Research Project Completed

Today completes the 4 month project I have been working on with MechE professor Isaac Greber. I compared digital, synthesized, instruments to live instruments (flute, saxophone, marimba, and violin). Our hypothesis, which was confirmed, was that the instruments with simple waveforms were better approximated by the digital synthesizers than instruments with complex waveforms. There were some other interesting and unexpected results. The most striking being that the high frequency peaks in the complex waveforms (violin and saxophone) have been drastically reduced in the synthetic sound. We think this is done on purpose so that the synthesizer can support many instances of the same sample while avoiding "beating" in the upper registers.