Added program notes.

texts/compositions/Arcadia.md

@@ -7,4 +7,17 @@ date: 2020-10-01
 categories:
   - Chamber
 ---
-Information about _Arcadia_.
+_Arcadia_ was commissioned by _Musaics of the Bay_ and written in response to June 
+Yokell's painting entitled _Paradise Lost_. 
+
+When I first saw her painting, I knew immediately that I must compose music from it. 
+The colors of the landscape spoke to me directly, reminding me of the geography of 
+my childhood home in Western Wisconsin. Arcadia is not only the name of a small town 
+in Wisconsin, it is also an ancient Greek word for an ancient, unspoiled wilderness, 
+where humans live in harmony with nature.
+
+In 2020, as I looked at the surrounding Wisconsin landscape while composing this work, 
+I had feelings of loss, alienation, and sadness. While much of the natural 
+world was (and still is) still incredibly beautiful, I had a sense that somehow a metaphorical 
+poison had covered the land, rendering it a _Paradise Lost_. _Arcadia_ seeks to capture 
+these emotions that I experienced through June's painting in that time.

texts/compositions/Capriccioso.md

@@ -7,4 +7,16 @@ date: 2021-11-01
 categories:
   - Chamber
 ---
-Information about _Capriccioso_.
+Capriccioso is a musical response to Carel Fabritius’ 1654 painting _The Goldfinch_, 
+as well as the history surrounding the painting itself.
+
+Generally, the music is meant to evoke the playfulness of the small bird in the painting. 
+It is a stylish but silly bird: complicated, sparkling harmonies appear from the very 
+beginning of the music, and short, pointy melodic ideas abound as I imagined 
+the bird hopping around its home.
+
+However, as the work evolved, I had two competing yet somehow related ideas in my mind: 
+the first of the painter’s tragic death in the gunpowder explosion in Delft the same 
+year the painting was completed, and the second of the bird losing its chain and flying 
+away in escape. This brought about music with a mysterious, foreboding character, and in 
+the end music for the bird miraculously taking off in flight.

texts/compositions/Conversations.md

@@ -6,4 +6,27 @@ date: 2017-06-01
 categories:
   - Chamber
 ---
-Information about _Conversations_.
+This work was written for Jocelyn Zhu and Mariella Haubs in commemoration of their _Concerts for Compassion_ Tour, 
+Summer 2017. They premiered the work at the Church of St. Paul the Apostle, New York, NY, on April 3, 2019.
+It was subsequently performed on WQXR's _Young Artist Showcase_.
+
+This piece depicts a conversation between two people: they meet, argue, come to an agreement, and then part. 
+These four events are split across two movements.
+
+In the first movement, we begin with their greetings. Each violinist trades the main theme, 
+and they then develop it and chase it into new variations and ideas, reaching an exciting climax 
+which restates the very beginning music. However, conflict immediate follows: a bickering scherzo 
+in which the two cannot agree on what the harmony or rhythm should be. At times the argument is 
+bitter and coarse, and at others more light-hearted and playful. 
+In the end, though, they remain in total disagreement.
+
+After this heated conflict, the second movement begins with the two violinists pouring out their anguish
+in loud dissonances. After calming down, each tells a variation on a sad story: a long, lonely theme 
+accompanied by constant pizzicato. A chorale briefly appears: they reconcile their sadness and pray together.
+
+Once reconciled, they engage in a break-neck fugue of "civilized discourse". 
+They work out their argument in a disciplined, diplomatic fashion, finally reaching an agreement. 
+They join together in celebration, playing the harmonies that began the first movement and staying 
+in unison rhythm for nearly the rest of the piece.
+
+Finally, as in all conversations, the two must part ways. It is lonely and bittersweet, and we are left wondering why.

texts/compositions/FourPiecesForPiano.md

@@ -6,4 +6,10 @@ date: 2019-05-01
 categories: 
   - Solo
 ---
-Information about _Four Pieces for Piano_.
+This work was written for my dear friend Julia Hamos. 
+It is a set of four small pieces, each varying wildly in character:
+
+1. A "celebration", full of radiance, and in a flowing tempo.
+2. A bit mysterious, and in a slow, very free tempo. Echoes of Debussy (who himself echoed Wagner).
+3. A moderate toccata, alternating between quietly agitated (though somewhat playful) and furioso characters.
+4. Slow. Feelings of resignation and loss.

texts/compositions/Illuminatio.md

@@ -6,4 +6,16 @@ date: 2013-02-01
 categories:
   - Wind Ensemble
 ---
-Information about _Illuminatio_.
+_Illuminatio_ (Latin for "Illumination") was written in response to "Innovation in the Liberal Arts", 
+St. Olaf College's campus theme of the 2012–13 academic year. In the traditional way of thinking about 
+the liberal arts, the study of multiple, diverse disciplines can often seem to be a process of merely 
+learning a plethora of diverse facts. However, one can recognize this process instead as a deeper 
+enlightening, that of becoming aware. The study of diverse lines of thought not only gives one many
+different pieces of knowledge, but it heightens one’s perception of the world through experiencing 
+many different perspectives of other human beings. The innovation is thus a change of the way one 
+thinks about the process of learning in the liberal arts. _Illuminatio_ seeks to capture musically 
+this process of becoming aware.
+
+The St. Olaf College Collaborative Undergraduate Research and Inquiry program sponsored my work on _Illuminatio_.
+
+The work was premiered in March 2013 by Dr. Kent McWilliams and the St. Olaf Band, with the composer conducting.

texts/compositions/Intermezzo.md

@@ -6,4 +6,7 @@ date: 2015-12-01
 categories:
   - Solo
 ---
-Information about _Intermezzo_.
+This work was written as an homage to composer and friend Will Healy. The bass line of the 
+first four measures is taken from the latter half of his piece entitled _The Song I Wanted to Hear_.
+I decided to harmonize it with a similarly jazz/post-impressionist influenced sound. Cast in ABA form, 
+the middle section winds into a _Liebestod_-esque climax.

texts/compositions/Movement.md

@@ -6,4 +6,18 @@ date: 2013-04-01
 categories:
   - Chamber
 ---
-Information about _Movement_.
+This piece was written for my dear friend Seiji Cataldo. After having had many opportunities 
+to hear his fine playing, I became inspired to write a work for him, and this is the product.
+In this work, I appealed to his strong, sensitive, and charismatic playing style with bright,
+agile lines and a plethora of multiple stops, but also with smooth, lyrical tunes and delicate
+harmonics.
+
+The movement is cast in a sonata form. The piece begins with a fanfare-like rhythm, 
+which gives way to a background of colorful tertian harmony. The violin enters with the first theme, 
+declamatory in character and with a strong tritone. A harmonically adventurous transition brings 
+the music to the second theme, a lyrical tune with octatonic suave. A slow development with 
+omnipresent off-beat pulses follows, and eventually the music arrives at the recapitulation. 
+Both themes are heard again, finally arriving in the original key.
+
+This work was premiered by Seiji Cataldo and Jesse Brault at Urness Recital Hall, 
+St. Olaf College, on April 12, 2013.

texts/compositions/NearUnderFar.md

@@ -7,4 +7,17 @@ date: 2021-03-01
 categories: 
   - Solo
 ---
-Information about _Near, Under, Far_.
+_Near, Under, Far_ is a response to Luc Tuymans’ painting _Die blaue Eiche_ (“The Blue Oak”). 
+I was struck by both the loneliness and angularity of the painting, 
+and sought to capture these two ideas musically.
+
+As I was first sketching the piece, the region where I was living experienced extreme cold weather.
+Standing outside one afternoon during this cold snap, I asked myself: what is the opposite of _Die blaue Eiche_? 
+I imagined a large blue oak, green with many leaves, somewhere in a field in California. 
+I thought of viewing it from a close distance, from underneath its shade, and from far
+away on a distant hill. I then imagined these views of the long-frozen tree of _Die blaue Eiche_. 
+In picturing these opposite scenes, I felt both unease and longing, which I subsequently set out 
+to express musically (in addition to the painting’s loneliness and angularity).
+
+_Near, Under, Far_ was commissioned by _Musaics of the Bay_, San Francisco, California, 
+and was composed for cellist Gabriel Cabezas.

texts/compositions/Quintet.md

@@ -6,4 +6,31 @@ date: 2013-03-01
 categories:
   - Chamber
 ---
-Information about _Quintet_.
+_Quintet_ is a summation of my work as an undergraduate. The work contains a plethora of tributes
+to and quotes of other composers, as well as quotes of my own work, all of which are tied together
+with original material to create a musical-dramatic structure that is nearly symphonic in size.
+
+The most prominent quote is the primary rhythmic motive from Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. 
+As is for many musicians and music lovers, that symphony holds a special place in my soul, 
+and here this motive is meant to invoke the same as in his work: a sense of fate, perhaps the absurdity of life,
+ever present. In addition to this particular motive, there are various other quotations of 
+the symphony in this work.
+
+Another important musical theme is _Why fum’th in fight_, a tune by the 16th century English composer Thomas Tallis.
+This theme was made famous by Ralph Vaughan Williams in his work _Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis_. 
+This musical theme is one I have listened to as long as I have been an admirer of classical music, 
+and, since it deeply resonates with my inner ear, I felt compelled to place it in this work.
+
+Finally, I would like to acknowledge the debt that this work owes to the music of composer David Maslanka. 
+With many references to his own musical language, including both a prominent use of _Old Hundredth_ (which I first heard
+in his Fourth Symphony) as well as various references to his Ninth Symphony, I am deeply in debt to his music. 
+_Quintet_ fully reflects this.
+
+There are many other small quotes, especially of my own music. Overall, however, the work is not 
+meant to be a "quotation collage". These quotations are to me powerful symbols for my musical being, 
+the combination of which is meant to serve a greater musical narrative.
+
+In the end, I hope the work to be a journey from cynicism and despair to an affirmation of love and life.
+
+This work was premiered by Sara Baumbauer, Seiji Cataldo, Josh Wareham, Audrey Slote, Erin Roe, 
+and Jesse Brault at Urness Recital Hall, St. Olaf College, on April 12, 2013.

texts/compositions/SonataShambhala.md

@@ -6,4 +6,61 @@ date: 2018-09-01
 categories:
   - Solo
 ---
-Information about _Sonata Shambhala_.
+This work is a musical response to _Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior_ by Chögyam Trungpa,
+a book which was recommended to me by a dear family-relative of mine in the spring of 2017. 
+At the time, I was in a routine involving waking up very early in the morning and reading 
+by the morning sunlight until it was time for breakfast. Reading the words of this book 
+in such a setting was deeply inspiring, and it was not long after that I proposed the idea of 
+composing an extended solo piano piece in reflection of the book to my dear friend Benjamin Hochman. 
+Over a year's worth of labor later, I produced the score for him, and Mr. Hochman premiered 
+the work at Marlboro College near Brattleboro, VT, on November 11, 2018, with performances following 
+in Seattle, WA, and Ghent, NY. Around this time, Rinchen Llamo, a friend of Mr. Hochman and a 
+former-student of Trungpa himself, sponsored the final labor of composing this piece, 
+and I am deeply grateful to her for her support.
+
+In this work, I have not sought to depict the teachings of the book literally in the music,
+but rather to reflect musically my own feelings, experiences, and thoughts upon encountering 
+and meditating upon them. Below are quotes from the book that I found particularly relevant 
+to each movement after composing the work as a whole:
+
+I. _Kingdom Visions (Chaconne)_
+
+> When you awaken your heart, you find, to your surprise, that your heart is empty. 
+> You find that you are looking into outer space. 
+> What are you, who are you, where is your heart? ... 
+> If you search for your awakened heart, if you put your hand through your rib cage 
+> and feel for it, there is nothing there except for tenderness. You feel sore and soft,
+> and if you open your eyes to the rest of the world, you feel tremendous sadness. ...
+> It occurs because your heart is completely exposed. ...
+> For the warrior, this experience of sadness gives birth to fearlessness.
+> (pp. 31–32)
+
+II. _Warrior's Path_
+
+> The Great Eastern Sun is a rising sun ... it represents the dawning, or awakening of human dignity—
+> the rising of human warriorship. It is based on celebrating life. ... It is based on seeing that 
+> there is a natural source of radiance and brilliance in the world—
+> which is the innate wakefulness of human beings. (pp. 43–45)
+
+III. _Pilgrimage – Ascent – Kingdom_
+> That mind of fearfulness<br />
+> Should be put in the cradle of loving-kindness<br />
+> And suckled with the profound and brilliant milk of eternal doubtlessness.<br />
+> In the cool shade of fearlessness,<br />
+> Fan it with the fan of joy and happiness.<br />
+> When it grows older,<br />
+> With various displays of phenomena,<br />
+> Lead it to the self-existing playground.<br />
+> When it grows older still,<br />
+> In order to promote primordial confidence,<br />
+> Lead it to the archery range of warriors.<br />
+> When it grows older still,<br />
+> To awaken primordial self-nature,<br />
+> Let it see the society of men<br />
+> Which possess beauty and dignity.<br />
+> Then the fearful mind<br />
+> Can change into the warrior’s mind,<br />
+> And that eternally youthful confidence<br />
+> Can expand into space without beginning or end.<br />
+> At that point it sees the Great Eastern Sun.<br />
+> (p. 91)