artwork by Alex Sopp
My Creative Journey
I. Playing with the Notes
I wrote my very first arrangement at the age of eleven: a small ensemble version of Duke Ellington’s “Take the A Train” for horn, trombone, and drum set, based loosely on a Sammy Nestico arrangement that we had done in middle school orchestra class. The venue was American History Class, and the presentation rewarded my impromptu jazz combo with an A+.
I had been bitten by the writing bug, and, with the encouragement of my teachers, I continued experimenting with arrangements and original works in parallel with my instrumental training. Most of my early work was for brass ensembles, including some duets to play with my very patient private lessons teacher, a brass quintet, and a piece for 5 horns and tuba. In high school, I was thrilled to discover MIDI and learn how to input music digitally using the early notation software program Overture on the music tech lab’s sole Apple Macintosh Classic. It was great fun!
II. Road Maps
Studying scores and recordings fueled my enthusiasm. Every Saturday after youth orchestra rehearsals, my Dad took me to the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh’s vast Performing Arts Library, where I would check out the maximum of 10 classical CDs per week, along with the corresponding musical scores. This weekly ritual spanned my middle and high school years, instilling a reverence for the standard repertoire and the finer points of interpretation, all while laying the groundwork for an intuitive understanding of the basic elements of composition, orchestration, and engraving.
III. Journeyman
My writing output slowed while studying French horn at Juilliard, and remained on the back burner for much of the early part of my performing career. When I returned to NYC, I began writing more prolifically after learning how to use the notation program Sibelius (a big step up from Overture!). I even managed to get a few small arranging gigs from friends and colleagues.
This all changed in 2006 when I joined Sufjan Stevens and his band for a tour of Europe. In addition to performing, I wrote some arrangements, adapting string orchestra instrumentals into a quintet of wind and brass parts. I would go on to do similar work under Sufjan: as copyist/assistant for BQE, arranging music from Enjoy Your Rabbit for string quartet, and as copyist/assistant for Roundup.
IV. Ballet
Choreographer Justin Peck reached out to Sufjan to propose a ballet based on music from the album Run Rabbit Run. I was entrusted with the task of orchestrating seven tracks from this album into what would become Year of the Rabbit, commissioned by New York City Ballet. It was a critically acclaimed success.
The Stevens-Peck collaboration would continue, and I joined as assistant/copyist/co-orchestrator of Everywhere We Go (also for NYCB). After that, I re-orchestrated the soundtrack music from Sufjan’s BQE for Justin’s 2015 ballet In the Countenance of Kings, commissioned by San Francisco Ballet. I had the great privilege of conducting the world premiere production runs of BQE at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, as well as Year of the Rabbit and Everywhere We Go, both at Lincoln Center.
V. Expanding Horizons
In addition to the inspiration and knowledge I was extremely fortunate to gain while working with Sufjan, the exposure from my role in those projects opened many doors. I’ve since written instrumental arrangements for indie groups Takka Takka, Gabriel and the Hounds, Annie Clark (St. Vincent), roots music trio I’m With Her, Live from Here with Chris Thile, and singer/songwriter Aoife O’Donovan. My larger-scale arrangements have been performed by the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, A Far Cry, Greater Bridgeport Symphony Orchestra, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Dutch National Ballet, chamber ensembles from the New York Philharmonic, and the Amsterdam Sinfonietta.
Since becoming a member, I’ve written extensively for The Knights – arrangements, orchestrations, and original compositions, including contributions to two collectively written works The Ground Beneath our Feet and the forthcoming Keep On Keeping On. The Knights also commissioned and performed Ligeti Split, an original piece based on themes by Gyorgi Ligeti, which was premiered at Carnegie Hall.
In 2018, The Knights partnered with South African artist William Kentridge and his team to workshop and create The Head and The Load, an immersive theater piece written to commemorate the forgotten stories of the lives lost on the African front during World War I. I worked closely with composer Philip Miller to orchestrate the score for this work which was premiered to critical acclaim at the Tate Modern in London, and subsequently performed in Europe and North America.
Over the last eight years, I’ve had the great pleasure of working with composer (and fellow West Harlem resident) Mikael Karlsson, contributing orchestrations to a number of projects in Europe and the USA – most recently, the new ballet RASA, choreographed by Daniel Proietto for the Opera Ballet Vlaanderen. Other projects have been performed by the Prototype Festival, Royal Norwegian Ballet, Vienna Opera Ballet, Nordic Chamber Orchestra, and during the 2019 Nobel Laureate Banquet.
Our collaboration has continued through COVID to include a co-composed ballet, orchestrations for operas and a number of other projects.
VI. Beyond
I am grateful for the support of so many friends, colleagues, and teachers over the years – without their encouragement, I may have never found this creative path.
You can learn more about my catalogue by visiting the watch/listen page, the discography page, or by clicking here to download a list of selected works.
For information about collaborating with me, please visit the creative services page.