STILL

Still for Brass Quintet was commissioned by and written for the Gaudete Brass Quintet. The premiere occurred on October 25, 2013, during the live broadcast of Backstage Pass hosted by Julia Figueras at the NPR Station WXXI in Rochester, New York. The intent of the work is simple: aurally depict the first stages of meditation with the quieting of the mind followed by timeless restfulness. Feel free to close your eyes, allow your breathing to become slower, and let your thoughts come and go at will.

CHICAGO MOVES

I wrote Chicago Moves for Gaudete Brass in 2011. The piece is in four movements, each of which showcases an aspect of life in Chicago, represented by a place or landmark. The piece is a melange of third stream (i.e., between classical and jazz) style melodies overlaid onto an almost minimalist groove that is passed between the instruments. It makes extensive use of mutes, flügelhorns, and interconnected lines to produce colors more like those of a string quartet or vocal choir than those typically associated with brass instruments. The work was commissioned for Gaudete Brass by Giddings and Webster Mouthpieces, The Venzon Family, Earl and Judy Baxtresser, and the Chicago Modern Brass Project.