Music Available Only By Request
The compositions here are unique works that are available in manuscript only. They are rare and deliberately unpublished. If you are interested in programming any of them, please contact me.
Glorificare
Glorificare - Requiem for Newtown was composed at the request of the students and faculty of Newtown High School and Sandy Hook Elementary School. The piece is dedicated to the memory of the precious children and women we lost on December 14, 2012.
On December 14th, 2012, twenty children and six women had their lives tragically and senselessly taken from them while innocently fulfilling their roles as students, teachers, aides, psychologists and administrators at the beloved Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT. These pure-souled, precious children and heroic, inspiring women are now in the arms of God, angelically shining both above us and in the hearts of those who love them.
Upon learning of the tragedy, the entire world sent deepest prayers and sentiments of love to the families of the passed, as well as to an entire town in shock. The global resonance of that day left all feeling as if they had to do something, regardless of geographical distance to Newtown. Human love and compassion can build bridges with infinite spans. Like so many other sympathetic families, our family felt that need as well. Then, ironically, on December 18th, the phone rang in our home. The call was from Kurt Eckhardt, Director of Bands at Newtown High School, asking if I would craft a composition for those lost at their Sandy Hook Elementary. He asked if the composition could incorporate all of the students in the music department; meaning a major musical work for Band, Choir and Orchestra combined. He had the support of the teachers and students, including a saxophonist in the band named Michael Vabner, older brother to six-year-old shooting victim, Noah Pozner. I was honored to accept, and I knew it would be more arduous and emotionally taxing than anything I had ever done. Although Kurt offered to pay for the composition, I absolutely could not accept money to write this.
GLORIFICARE was composed as a healing piece. It is a multi-movement, sixteen-minute tribute to twenty-six extremely special people and the venerated spirit each possesses that will be forever felt by their families and dear friends. The sung text is in Latin with two sections from the Mourner’s Kaddish sung in Hebrew. The composition takes the listener from solemn prayers to the rapturous grandeur of their souls’ glorification.
If there was one phrase I heard many times following this heartbreaking event, it was, “There are no words.” Perhaps, a more accurate description would have been that the desired words were unequivocally hindered by the overbearing grief. I felt the same. However, I often tell musicians with whom I work that music picks up where words leave off. …That everything we cannot express in words, we can express in music. Our duty as musicians is to make the listener feel the way we’re feeling, but we don’t have words; we have more than words. We have music. GLORIFICARE provides that opportunity.
Upon learning of the tragedy, the entire world sent deepest prayers and sentiments of love to the families of the passed, as well as to an entire town in shock. The global resonance of that day left all feeling as if they had to do something, regardless of geographical distance to Newtown. Human love and compassion can build bridges with infinite spans. Like so many other sympathetic families, our family felt that need as well. Then, ironically, on December 18th, the phone rang in our home. The call was from Kurt Eckhardt, Director of Bands at Newtown High School, asking if I would craft a composition for those lost at their Sandy Hook Elementary. He asked if the composition could incorporate all of the students in the music department; meaning a major musical work for Band, Choir and Orchestra combined. He had the support of the teachers and students, including a saxophonist in the band named Michael Vabner, older brother to six-year-old shooting victim, Noah Pozner. I was honored to accept, and I knew it would be more arduous and emotionally taxing than anything I had ever done. Although Kurt offered to pay for the composition, I absolutely could not accept money to write this.
GLORIFICARE was composed as a healing piece. It is a multi-movement, sixteen-minute tribute to twenty-six extremely special people and the venerated spirit each possesses that will be forever felt by their families and dear friends. The sung text is in Latin with two sections from the Mourner’s Kaddish sung in Hebrew. The composition takes the listener from solemn prayers to the rapturous grandeur of their souls’ glorification.
If there was one phrase I heard many times following this heartbreaking event, it was, “There are no words.” Perhaps, a more accurate description would have been that the desired words were unequivocally hindered by the overbearing grief. I felt the same. However, I often tell musicians with whom I work that music picks up where words leave off. …That everything we cannot express in words, we can express in music. Our duty as musicians is to make the listener feel the way we’re feeling, but we don’t have words; we have more than words. We have music. GLORIFICARE provides that opportunity.
Movements:
I - Introit - Beautiful Heaven
II - Opening Prayer - Oratonem Solemnis & Kaddish
III - Adoramus Te
IV - Kyrie
V - Interlude (Beautiful Heaven Recapitulation)
VI - "Light the Candles"
VII - Gloria
VIII - Amen
I - Introit - Beautiful Heaven
II - Opening Prayer - Oratonem Solemnis & Kaddish
III - Adoramus Te
IV - Kyrie
V - Interlude (Beautiful Heaven Recapitulation)
VI - "Light the Candles"
VII - Gloria
VIII - Amen
World Premiere, May 22nd, 2013, Newtown High School, Newtown, CT
Premiered by the Newtown High School Band, Choir and Orchestra,
Hartford Symphony Orchestra, VOCE Singers, Musicians of the Newtown Community
Premiered by the Newtown High School Band, Choir and Orchestra,
Hartford Symphony Orchestra, VOCE Singers, Musicians of the Newtown Community
Books with Blank Pages (Clarinet Concerto)
Books With Blank Pages (Clarinet Concerto) is dedicated to the memory of Laura Onwudinanti and Jack Stewart whose lives tragically ended in an automobile accident while on their way to a clarinet symposium. This composition was commissioned by Robinson High School, Robert Vetter, Director. World premiere on February 13, 2015 at the Texas Music Educators' Association convention during Robinson High School's Honor Band performance; Dr. Eric Wilson, Guest Conductor; Dr. Jun Qian, Clarinet Soloist.
Everyone is a book. What no one knows is how many pages or chapters the book will be. What we hope is that we live to write the ending. If there are pages left to write in someone's book, those who love him/her must write them. A person's influence does not leave with their soul. Hence, no one ever dies until the last person who loves them is silent. We continue to write until we fill the final blank page.