Orkinstra - XIII x XIX: Cycle of the Cicadas

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Orkinstra - XIII x XIX: Cycle of the Cicadas 〰️

I composed a 45-minute symphony for a 10-piece contemporary orchestra that we dubbed Orkinstra! The work was to celebrate the 221-year co-emergence of 13 and 17 year cicadas. You can read all about it on my Medium blog post.

5 minute 'making of' video.

Full 45-minute Live Performance.

PBS Fast-Forward

I scored this doc from director Michael Eric Hurtig for PBS. My longtime collaborator, Michael Paolleta, was also involved as Music Supervisor. Fast-Forward follows a few families as they grapple with the multi-generational challenges of aging. The families were put through a series of scenarios with the MIT Aging Lab. There was an element of time-travel to the narrative, as the families were asked to travel 30 years into the future to imagine what their lives would be like and how they would handle the challenges associated with aging. The dynamic was viewed both from the parent’s perspective and the children’s as well, with respect to caring for their parents.

The music nods to this time travel notion, while sonically staying rooted in a more intimate, midwestern sound compatible with the environment we see the folks in the doc navigate.

I used a variety of manipulated piano and guitar; using aluminum foil as a resonator on the strings and such. I created new sounds from sampling my bicycle and from the rhythms from a train. I stitched these elements together with a small live string ensemble, featuring cello from Jill Kaeding, a variety of wind instruments by Jim Gailloreto, and drums from James McAlister (Sufjan Stevens, The National). And of course a smattering of my vintage synths sprinkled throughout.

Creating instruments by sampling a bike.

Bach's Goldberg Variations

A playlist of my Goldberg vids to-date. Upright piano through number 10, the Schimmel K195 grand enters the scene on 11!

I grew up taking piano lessons and playing somewhat seriously. I always took classical lessons, I took jazz from a few different teachers, including Linda Chen who used to play for Henry Mancini, and of course I played in my share of terrible rock bands.

As I pursued a composing career, having some piano chops was always useful, but I fell away from playing seriously. In the months before the pandemic struck, I was inspired to start learning one of Bach’s keyboard monuments: The Goldberg Variations, made famous by the recordings of Canadian Pianist, Glenn Gould. I started spending at least an hour a day plugging away at these 31 different pieces. When we went on lockdown, I found myself spending more and more time on this quest. 3 hours. 5 hours. A few times even 8 hours day at the piano, learning, memorizing and mastering the Variations.

As my technique improved, I pushed my humble Yamaha Upright piano to it’s limits and started to explore upgrading to a more robust instrument. I was extremely fortunate to find a fantastic deal on a Schimmel K195 grand piano. This is 6’ 3” grand piano with a powerful bass and treble that can go from softly resonating to sharp and bell-like. It’s amazing.

Early on in this journey, I decided to record a video for each variation, to chronicle the quest. I have but a few more to go.

As of the summer of ’23, I have the whole work now memorized and the next goal is to share this amazing music with some friends. So I’m going to play a few intimate performances at my place, on the wonderful Schimmel, and then ultimately perform a larger recital in the fall.

Above images links to the Youtube videos of everything to-date and an essay I wrote on the quest..

LOGITECH Laptop Catastrophes Campaign

This is one of the most sprawling and technically challenging campaigns I have ever worked on. It was comprised of 12 different core spots, each with a unique B-movie thriller music intro section, then an overly-dramatic romance cinema vibe at the end. On top of that, there were numerous iterations for different lengths, products, markets that pushed the overall unique asset total to 60. The overall tone was a touch campy and almost dark; I mixed the music so it had a touch of ‘age’ on it. I also did the sound design and post mixing! It was super exciting to work on this with Lemon/Hughes on the creative for Logitech, with Rob Leggatt directing for Knucklehead.