About

As a composer and improviser, I make music by crafting sonic spaces that explore vertical and cyclical time. I compose temporal mosaics built from shifting motives, juxtaposed to create aural experiences that are sometimes meditative, and, occasionally, surreal. Primary influences on my work include abstract expressionist painting, pantomime, surrealist cinema, and years of study (both academic and hands-on) of traditional Japanese music, including jiuta and gagaku.

I hold a Bachelor of Music degree from Indiana University (Fort Wayne campus) and  a Master of Music degree from Bowling Green State University. At BGSU I studied composition with Mikel Kuehn, Christopher Dietz, and Marilyn Shrude; improvisation with Rob Wallace and Thomas Rosekranz; and Balinese Gamelan with Kurt Doles. In July of 2020 I relocated to Honolulu, where I am currently a PhD student at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. At UH I have studied composition with Donald Womack, Takuma Itoh, and Thomas Osborne; and koto, jiuta san-gen (and singing), and gagaku with Darin Miyashiro.

In addition to my abstract music, I have also written music for cinema and theatre. These works includes a new string quartet score for the 1920 German silent film, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, which was commissioned by Fort Wayne Cinema Center performed live in October of 2017; and Marley is dead, an improvisation-based piece performed as one of the opening scenes of Jack Cantey’s Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” in December 2017 (I also directed the singing and acted in the play).

My work as an improviser includes gigs as a soloist, and as both a member and leader of various ensembles in Fort Wayne, Indiana and Bowling Green, Ohio. I primarily play at house shows and in collaboration with other artists. In 2022, I started performing as an improviser in Honolulu, playing open mics and in the opening night of the Oʻahu Fringe Festival.

In addition to performing, I teach improvisation in masterclass and workshop settings. These sessions focus on encouraging the enjoyment of spontaneous music-making. This is achieved by discussing and practicing strategies and game pieces written by myself, and important improvisers of the past and present.