GHOST SELF

Program Note: Ghost Self is the first of a soon to be six part large scale work entitled Ghost Continent and was inspired by my personal journey of self-discovery. Ghost Continent and Ghost Self come from the pen of American anthropologist, philosopher, and writer Loren Eiseley and refer to his idea that within every human there is […]

SPRING SONG

Program Note: Intended for performance in the Fern Room of Chicago’s Garfield Park Conservatory, Spring Song is a soundscape that derives its materials from Felix Mendelssohn’s Song Without Words, op. 62, no. 6. Jens Jensen, the chief landscape architect behind the Conservatory’s construction between 1906 and 1908 claimed this short Mendelssohn piano work as inspiration […]

CAHOKIA

Program Note: Cahokia was inspired by the rise and fall of a complex prehistoric Native American chiefdom located at what we know today as the Cakokia Mounds. When I first experienced these stunning man-made landforms in person I was amazed that such substantial remnants of human history existed in the United States. I was filled […]

FOUNTAIN

Program Note: I initially sketched Fountain during the summer of 2008 when I would take frequent trips out to Buckingham Fountain in Chicago’s Grant Park on the lakefront. While sitting near the fountain I was drawn in by the sounds of the water shooting into the sky then falling back onto the fountain as well […]

SYMPHONY IN MOVEMENT

Program Note: Motion can be deceptive in the sense that an object may appear to be moving when it is in fact not moving at all. It depends entirely on one’s individual perspective. When I commute to work everyday I will often take the #147 CTA bus in to downtown. For those of you who are not […]

ROOTS RUN DEEP (orchestra)

Program Note: In a conversation with my maternal grandfather (Pépère), he made an obvious and yet striking comment about his reality. “My roots run deep here.” He was referring to the Houle family farm, located in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom on which he has lived virtually his entire life since he was born in 1921. For […]