News
New Piece for Orchestra: “Plod”
November 16, 2022—I’m thrilled to share the recording of a new orchestral work, “Plod.” I wrote this piece over the summer, and the Stony Brook Symphony Orchestra read and recorded it earlier this semester. They did a really beautiful job! This is my first work for orchestra, and I’m quite pleased with the results. Listen to the piece and read the program notes here.
New Sideman Appearance: Vicente Hansen Atria’s Orlando Furioso
September 9, 2022—Over the past couple of years, I’ve had the great pleasure of playing in Vicente Hansen Atria’s band Orlando Furioso. Vicente is a drummer and composer who recently completed his DMA in Music Composition at Columbia. This band plays what Vicente calls “microtonal folk jazz,” that is, music that incorporates microtonal tuning systems and that combines historic folk music forms with 20th-century jazz forms. The result is remarkably unique, and yet accessible for trained musicians and laymen alike. Check out the new, eponymous album here. If you like the music, please consider buying the album! We are also thrilled that our album release concert was reviewed favorably by both the New York Times and the San Fransisco Classical Voice!
New Piece for Trumpet and Electronics: “Already But Not Yet”
August 26, 2022—I’m excited to release the recording for a new piece, “Already But Not Yet.” This work, for solo trumpet and Ableton Live, is devoted to my late grandfather Wilfredo Acevedo, Sr., who was called home by the Lord this past winter. This piece is my first attempt at electroacoustic music, and its ambient texture is in direct contrast to my last work for trumpet, “Hyper-Hocket.” Read more and listen to the piece here.
“Three and A Half Meditations” Selected for BNMI’s Writing for Marimba Workshop
June 2, 2022—I’m pleased to announce that my piece for solo marimba, “Three and A Half Meditations,” has been selected as part of the Boston New Music Initiative’s (BNMI) Writing for Marimba Workshop. In this event, marimbist Matt Sharrock of Transient Canvas, Hinge Ensemble, and Boston Percussion Group will be workshopping this piece and two others amid a broader discussion of new music composition for marimba. Register on BNMI’s website, and in the meantime, brush up on the piece here.
Attending the 2022 Yarn/Wire International Institute
April 18, 2022—I’m so excited to be attending this year’s Yarn/Wire International Institute in June. It’s a great privilege to write for such an esteemed ensemble, and the Institute faculty looks incredible, including the likes of Tyshawn Sorey, Michelle Lou, Ann Cleare, and Bryan Jacobs. In my new work for Yarn/Wire, I plan to continue exploring groove-based, Afrological new music, this time with an extreme metal flair. Stay tuned for the new music—for more information on the Institute, click here.
Selected for the Millennium Composers Initiative’s 2021 Call for Composers
April 13, 2022—I’m pleased to announce that I have been selected as part of the Millennium Composers Initiative’s 2021 Call for Composers. In its own words, the MCI “represents composers from all around the world at the beginning of their professional careers, regardless of their aesthetic, style, or background. Creating fresh and engaging new music for all types of ensembles and media, we strive to push the limits of what defines music and art through experimental, conventional, and interdisciplinary means, providing new experiences for audiences, performers, and artists everywhere.”
I very much look forward to getting to know this network and contributing my own music along the way. Learn more about the MCI and view the other winners here.
Interview with John Lamberton on The BRIDGE Podcast
April 5, 2022—LA-based guitarist, composer, and improviser John Lamberton spotted my piece “Hyper-Hocket” on Score Follower and asked me to join him on his podcast, The BRIDGE. We had a wide-ranging conversation about many aspects of my music, including but not limited to Steve Coleman and M-BASE, extreme metal, microtonal composition, notational struggles, free improvisation, and, of course, the background behind “Hyper-Hocket.” Listen to the podcast here.
“Hyper-Hocket” featured on Score Follower
January 21, 2022—I’m happy to announce that my trumpet quartet “Hyper-Hocket” was selected by Score Follower as part of its Fall 2021 Follow My Score call for scores. For those unfamiliar, Score Follower is a YouTube channel and broader organization that creates videos of contemporary music scores that turn pages along with the accompanying recordings. More generally, SF “encourage[s] exposure for new music composers, performers, publishers, and recording labels alike, through a meeting place on the internet that is accessible to all.” Check out the video here, and be sure to subscribe to the channel!
New Piece for String Quintet: “Room 101”
November 23, 2021—Check out my Stony Brook premiere, a new piece for string quintet titled “Room 101.” As I wrote most of this piece, I was thoroughly engrossed in George Orwell’s 1984. During the final stages of composition, I looked back at the music and realized that its form and content resemble the novel’s plot to a remarkable degree. The ties were so strong that I felt compelled to dedicate the piece to Orwell and his prescient, incisive masterwork. And I’m really happy with how the performance turned out! Read more and listen to the piece here.
New Piece for Trumpet Quartet: “Hyper-Hocket”
August 20, 2021—Check out my new piece for trumpet quartet, “Hyper-Hocket.” This piece is one in a series of works for trumpet ensemble conceived and composed in the last year or so. With less in-person musical collaboration going on, I decided to write some works for me, myself, and I. The results vary widely but all center on the same question: What can you do with multiple trumpets that you can't do with one? As it turns out, quite a lot. Read more and listen to the piece here.
Attending SBU for Graduate Music Studies
March 16, 2021—I’m pleased to announce that I will be pursuing my M.A. in Music Composition at Stony Brook University starting in the fall 2021 semester. I’m so excited to join such a wonderful community of composers, performers, and scholars in this historic department, as well as to pass on some of my own knowledge to the younger generation. I hope to make great strides as a composer, trumpeter, scholar, and educator while in this program—Lord willing, I will do just that!
Image Credit: GuernicaSeason, Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
New Piece for Trumpets and Electronics: “Already But Not Yet”
November 27, 2020—Check out my new piece for trumpet and electronics, “Already But Not Yet.” This piece was commissioned as part of the Musical Mentors Collaborative (MMC) Requiem-20 Project. For the Project, the MMC tasked 11 young composers, of which I was one, with composing a 1-2 minute piece of any style that somehow reflects upon the COVID-19 pandemic. For my piece, I chose to write for virtual trumpet choir—me, myself, and I overdubbed. I plan to expand this work into a much longer piece at some point in the not-so-distant future. Read more and listen to the piece here.
New Piece for Solo Marimba: “Three and A Half Meditations (for Yony)”
October 17, 2020—Check out my new piece for solo marimba, “Three and A Half Meditations (for Yony).” This piece, originally written in 2019 and revised in 2020, presents several marimba meditations for the listener's contemplation. It is dedicated to my dear friend, percussionist Yonatan Rozin, with whom I have had the pleasure of learning and growing since high school. This recording was performed by Ellery Trafford of TAK Ensemble and was produced by David Bird. Read more listen to the piece here.
New Album Recording: Vicente Hansen Atria’s Orlando Furioso (forthcoming, 2022)
October 16, 2020—Drummer and composer Vicente Hansen Atria is an old friend of mine from Columbia University. Orlando Furioso is one of his bands, which plays what he calls “alien folk jazz,” “alien” because it relies on various microtonal tuning systems. I’m thrilled to have played trumpet on this incredibly challenging—and rewarding—album. The band also features David Leon (reeds), Alec Goldfarb (guitars), Andrew Boudreau (electronic harpsichord), Daniel Hass (cello), and Simon Willson (double bass). Stay tuned for the album’s release later this year.
New Album Release: Matt Forker, In Pursuit of Morning
March 13, 2020—I had the great pleasure of playing trumpet on this new album by guitarist and composer Matt Forker. Matt and I know each other from high school and reconnected for this project after discovering experimental improvisational music at around the same time at our respective colleges. This album combines aesthetics of avant-garde jazz, contemporary chamber music, and free improvisation. Besides me and Matt, the band features Fung Chern Hwei (violin), Josh Davidoff (clarinet), Abdulrahman Amer (trombone), Lisa Hoppe (double bass), Jonah Wolfson (drumset), and special guest Tyshawn Sorey (drums, glockenspiel). Read more and listen to the album here.
New Piece for confluss: “As a deer (Psalm 42)”
November 29, 2019—Check out my new piece for confluss, “As a deer (Psalm 42).” confluss is a wonderful new(ish) duo comprising Sam Zagnit (double bass) and Amber Evans (soprano). This piece is a partial setting of one of my favorite psalms—Psalm 42—which is a lament of sorts, employing natural imagery and a consistent theme of water/thirst to depict the psalmist’s deep longing to draw closer to God. Listen to the piece here.