Summer Updates and New Horizons!

It's about time I checked in on the site and I realized pretty quickly that I haven't updated in a loooong time. My last post was from January and a lot has happened since then! The school year was amazing and the kids performed beautifully at the Spring Concert and at all the end of year Jazz performances. Overall it was a great year of growth for the program and next year should be just as successful and memorable.

On the grad school front I decided to finally take the plunge and apply to schools. I am pleased to announce (although I already announced on social media) that I'll be attending the John J. Cali School of Music at Montclair in the fall as a part time graduate student studying Theory and Composition. I'm very excited for the new chapter ahead of me and I cannot wait to begin this journey!

Compositionally, I've been working on a piece for Concert Band which will be my first original (not arrangement) for this instrumentation. The title is shouting for no one to hear... and I'll post more info about it when it's complete. I tried to really step out of my comfort zone with this one and I'm really happy with how the piece is coming together. I don't have any performances of it lined up, but I'm optimistic that will happen soon. After this I'm thinking of beginning a song cycle with text by my friend Will who has written for me in the past. Some exciting stuff coming down the pike!

Marching Band season is starting up soon so that means I'll be disappearing for a few months. I'll update as more comes to light. Stay tuned!

Long Overdue

This is very long overdue!

Since my last post, my wife and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary, bought a house over the summer, and adopted a cat! To say live has been busy is an understatement. The school year is in full swing and I'm just settling into 2017 now which means it's time for a blog update!

I've had some exciting performances in 2016 and a pretty substantial premiere along with it. My piece Were I With thee was performed twice - once over the summer by the Mount Tabor Summer Camp saxophone ensemble lead by my friend John DiEgidio and again by Ryan Mantell with the Rutgers University Saxophone Ensemble. I also had my first NYC performance/premiere by my friend Kaitlyn Walker who is an adjunct professor at NYU. She commissioned and premiered my new piece Donza con Pasione for oboe/english horn and piano. Each performance was very well received.

Looking ahead, I don't have any commissions lined up, but I have some projects that I'm milling about in my head. I'm planning on writing a piece for my Concert Band at High Point and I'm also midway through an arrangement of Were I With thee for wind band as well. I have a few chamber pieces I'm considering as well. All these up in the air projects are making it hard to tie one down to focus on. Definitely having a deadline helps with this dilemma...

On top of all this I'm beginning the search for grad school. That's been a fun adventure as well. More updates on this as they become available.

Lots of Updates!

So much to update on this blog post and website!

First thing is first, I am now a married man! My wife and I tied the knot back in early November and we couldn't be happier! She just started a new job, I have tenure at mine, we had a successful marching band season (which we decided to plan a wedding during), I performed at Midwest and realized a dream, and now things are finally dying down.

It's been a rollercoaster and you can see, but it's been one hell of a ride! Marching Band went incredibly well this year. We grew in size and the kids are marching better than ever before. We placed 1st and swept our division at one competition and placed 2nd at our other two. If that's not enough, we decided to get married in the middle of all that!

The wedding was absolutely beautiful and we loved every minute of it! I arranged all the music for the ceremony for brass quintet - 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, and organ - and my sister in law sang. It was a beautiful ceremony and a great reception followed with a killer band!

Just last week my wife and I went to the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Conference out in Chicago for the first time. We went because I started playing with the Eastern Wind Symphony and they were 1 of 2 professional community band chosen to perform. It was a lot of work getting ready for this performance. I play baritone saxophone with the group and I had solos on two pieces. One by a favorite composer of mine Steven Bryant. I got to meet and chat with Steven while out there and he is an incredibly nice guy! He gave me amazing advice on composing which was incredible. Steven, if you ever read this, thanks again!

Now that all that had subsided, things are dying down going into winter break. I'm planning on finishing up this commission for Oboe/English Horn which is set to be premiered in March, and have another possible commission in the works. There are a lot of big things happening. 2016 is gearing up to be a big year so stay tuned!

Exciting things are happening!

As the title suggests, there are a lot of exciting things going on currently. I just had a new premiere last night of my piece for choir, ...Without Their Leaves, by the High Point Chamber Singers. We also performed my arrangement of John Rutter's When the Saints Go Marching In that I did for the Sussex County Band and Choir earlier this year. It was a big night for me as a composer and arranger.

I have a couple more premieres coming up later this year too. My saxophone ensemble piece, Were I with thee, which was commissioned by Ryan Mantell will be premiered on June 14th at 4:00PM at The Music Den in Randolph, NJ. Plus, I'm working on a new piece commissioned by a friend of mine from Rutgers for Oboe doubling on English Horn and Piano. I'm very excited about this one because it's my first foray into writing Tangos. The piece is set to be finished late June and premiered at the New York Summer Music Festival in Oneonta, NY in July.

Along with composition, on the teaching front things have been equally exciting. I've been rehired at High Point, which means I'll be getting tenure come September 1st. Numbers are up in all of the department and the kids are playing at an incredibly high level.

In conclusion, things are awesome right now.

Mid Year Update

The school year has been churning away like a locomotive on a one way trip hellbent on reaching its destination! It's been an all out sprint since the start of band camp, but that was to be expected. I was able to finish up my piece for the High Point Chamber Singers - ...Without Their Leaves - before the new year and they're started rehearsing it. There's a lot of excitement from the students and the director about the piece and I'm anticipating an incredible premiere later this year! Keep an eye out for more information on that.

Currently, I'm working on a piece for Saxophone Ensemble for a friend of mine and his private studio. The piece is most likely going to end up being around 5 minutes and is a sprint from start to finish! I don't have a  title for the piece yet mainly because I'm terrible at coming up with titles. My go too always seem to be one word titles much like my piece for Clarinet and Piano - I. Run II. Sing. I'll come up with something eventually. Check back for updates!

Looking ahead, I've been talking with an old friend from Rutgers about a possible commission for Oboe. If that comes through then the premiere of that piece will be in Tokyo at the International Double Reed Association Conference. Other than that I don't have a lot on my plate other than teaching. Possibly going to work on an Alto Saxophone Concerto using old material from my piece for Andrew Steinberg, but nothing has been set in stone yet.

Some exciting things happening! Check back for more updates (hopefully not 5 months apart)!

It has begun...

It has been quite some time since I last updated this blog. In that time a lot has happened and some exciting things are underway! First and foremost, I'm finishing up an arrangement of John Rutter's When the Saints Go Marching In for combined choir and band. I'm writing the arrangement for the Sussex County Honors Band & Choir. I was commissioned by the guest conductor, David Martin, to write this arrangement because a band and choir version doesn't exist. I'm very excited to get to work with the kids and premier this piece. I cannot thank David enough for this opportunity.

I have also been diligently (as diligent as I can be with marching band season under way) working on a new piece for SATB choir that the High Point Chamber Singers will be premiering in the Spring. The text was written by a very good friend of mine from Rutgers - Will Crane. I've set his poetry before and I love his work. The piece, ...Without Their Leaves, is about the changing of the seasons and with it a change in the narrator. It is a beautiful poem that I'm excited to bring to life!

Those are the two projects that I have been focusing on, but more are in the mix. I've been mentally working on a piece for Trombone & Percussion that was commissioned by my friend Phillip Gallo, but with other deadlines I haven't had the chance to start it. Once the school year settles in I should be able to begin that piece.

I'm very excited for the coming performances and I will be sure to keep everyone posted on performance dates! Until then, be well!

Post #2

I finally have a little bit of time to update this blog/site. With the school year ending and in the looming insanity that is marching band season. I have a couple of upcoming projects that I'll be working on this summer that I'm excited about. I'm working on a piece for High Point's select choir, The Chamber Singers. The text was written by a good friend of mine, Will Crane. He wrote the text for my other choir piece.

Along with that piece I'm working on two others. The first is a piece for flute and piano for the New York Flute Club Composition Competition. The second piece is still up in the air, but the piece will be written for Trombone and Percussion for my friend Phillip Gallo. Phil is a phenomenal percussionist who works with my drum line at High Point. He approached me to write the piece because him and a friend are looking to expand the literature for Trombone and Percussion duos. More on that later.

This summer is shaping up to be an exciting one. I'll have more updates later!

First Post

Well hello everyone! I figure I should probably start by saying a little something about myself. I'm an up and coming composer, performer, and educator. I've only been writing for a few years, but it really is what I love most about music. I have my B.M. in Music Education and Performance with a concentration in Saxophone. I have a very small private studio (currently 1 student, but who's counting?!) and I am a full time band director in Northern New Jersey.

My intention with this site is to mainly promote my music and get it out to a wider audience. I have mostly been composing smaller works for chamber groups and solo instruments. I have very recently finished pieces for choir with string ensemble and a Euphonium Concerto as well as a piece for Clarinet and Piano. The Concerto and Clarinet piece are going to be premiered this Spring! Check out the Performances page for more info on where and when they're being played.

Again, welcome and feel free to explore!