Click on the title of a piece to hear it and to bring up the program notes and lyrics.

My goal in writing music is to create something fresh and challenging that sounds well on the instrument(s) and engages both the performer and the audience. Some of the vital influences reflected in my music are Debussy, Stravinsky, Webern, Berg, Bartok, Copland, Ellington, Elliott Carter, Lutoslawski, George Crumb, John Adams, Ornette Coleman and Wayne Shorter. I draw on many others from all eras of the European and American traditions, as well as music from other parts of the world, especially North Indian classical music.

I started dabbling in composition when I was a student of physics at Reed College. I dabbled more seriously, and even started taking composition lessons, when I was studying jazz performance at California Institute of the Arts. After I finished at CalArts my focus shifted more and more towards composition--I studied with Robert Lombardo at Roosevelt University in Chicago, and then with Robert Cogan and Malcolm Peyton as a doctoral student at New England Conservatory. During my time at NEC crucial inspiration and encouragement came from Mario Davidovsky, Chen Yi, and others at the Wellesley conference and other summer seminars. Since 1998 I've been teaching composition, songwriting, theory, and music appreciation at Duke University.

The focus of my formative years as a musician was playing jazz on the trombone, and there is at least a trace of jazz in most everything I write. It's usually a matter of attitude, not so much sound or style--I like to find ways to give performers a degree of flexibility that goes beyond the interpretation of precisely notated music. For an example, look at the Lullaby in my Bagatelles. The flexibility normally stops short of full-blown improvisation.

Here are some of my strongest pieces. Please contact me for scores and other performance material if you are interested in playing any of them. I am always looking to collaborate and to expand my horizons, so don't hesitate to contact me with other ideas or projects.