Current and Recent Musical Works: Music for an Imaginary Band Brass Quintet (for the American Brass Quintet) For Once Then Something (collaboration with Anita Cheng Dance) Rites of Summer (for the California EAR Unit) Passages (for Quartet New Generation recorder collective) Reliquary (for eighth blackbird) Morbidity and Mortality Report (for the Albany Symphony Orchestra) San Francisco Songs Show more
Commissions:
American Brass Quintet
California EAR Unit
Concert Artists Guild
BMI
Foundation/Albany Symphony
Fromm Foundation at Harvard University
Residencies:
Deer Valley Chamber Music Festival
Tanglewood Music Center (Fellowship)
Copland House
Educational Posts:
New York Youth Symphony, Making Score
Awards:
Three BMI Student Composer Awards
ASCAP Award for young composers
Published Works:
Book reviews in the Raleigh News and Observer
Libretti in Progress: The Enchanted Organ: A Burlesque Opera Brooklyn Noir
Other Current Projects:
Non-fiction book Deaths of the Authors
Education :
Pratt Institute (Currently working towards a Master of Library Science degree)
American opera is, for me, small and unruly, rather than big and grand. It could be performed in a theater, but also on a street corner with a noisy traffic snarl for an orchestra. It’s probably not in Italian, but it could be in Spanglish. You can’t download it or order it like a pizza. It’s an intimate experience, but less like a marriage and more like a one-night stand you can’t forget. It’s a window into the incredible tragedy and comedy of the U.S. of A. ... and we’ve got plenty of both.
The Rat Land chronicles the disintegration of a troubled and eccentric Midwestern family during the Fin-de-Cold War 1980s. The action unfolds within a suburban tract house overshadowed by a condemned nuclear reactor. Theodore, the invalid father, terrorizes the household with his volatile moods. Louise, the mother, lives in denial while struggling to keep up appearances. The family’s three children each struggle to come of age amidst this American Grotesque. Big brother André conceals a drinking problem and his homosexuality; little brother Gary suffers from autism and compulsive mischief making. Caught in the middle is Karen, an adolescent girl doubly afflicted with a mysterious disfigurement and an overactive imagination. Show more
Isolated from her peers and estranged from her parents, Karen retreats into the Rat Land—a fantasy realm of her own devising, in which her pet rats are gods, humans are vermin, and she herself is heir to the throne. As Karen faces grown-up problems of violence, betrayal, sex, and death, the Rat Land mutates from escapist fantasy to psychotic delusion.
Scene Two
Gary interacts with his favorite toy, the “Spell-‘n’-Tell.” Karen brings her new friend Leslie home to celebrate her 12th birthday with the family. The girls play clapping games and chatter like normal ‘tweens. Leslie then performs a “makeover” on the homely Karen. The family gathers around the table for the birthday cake, but Leslie’s exuberance spoils Theodore’s photo opportunity and he explodes in profanity and abuse. Leslie flees in terror. Theodore lectures Karen on Leslie’s evil influence and then undoes the makeover, telling Karen that it reveals her disfigurement. Karen flees to her room and prays to the Rat Gods to rescue her. Karen is possessed by the Rat God, and finally collapses in a faint. Show less
