Instrumentation: Alto saxophone solo

Year Written: 2022

Premiere Performer: Logan Gonzalez

Premiered: April 12th 2022 at Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, TX

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Instrumentation: Saxophone quartet

Year Written: 2021

Premiere Performers: Calen Allen (soprano), Ethan B. Dilley (alto), Riona Kumazaki (tenor), and Carter Vernon (bari)

Premiered: April 12th 2022 at Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, TX

Program Notes

Tugboat is a memorial to my grandfather who raised my mother and I. We lived with him for my entire childhood and during that time he took me hunting to many places around Texas and the US, including Colorado, Arizona, Oklahoma, and Utah. I loved that old man but he loved me more. I never realized until close to his passing that he was the one who raised me like his son.

At a young age he would take me hunting, to work on construction sites with him, and especially to church. I learned more from him than I can express. How to stand up for myself, how to be a dedicated husband, how to get up and go to work, how to choose my passion over the money, how to be honest, and how to create a strong product. He was a carpenter, an electrician, a shrimper, and a hunter. He owned his own company for over fifty years. He hunted big game all over the world and went to many states I still have yet to see including California. He married his wife when he was 18 and she was 16 and they were together their entire lives. I want that. I even married my wife on their anniversary, July 4th. With how much he loved to travel and how well he took care of his family, I couldn't help but see him as being on a level all his own.

He loved Mickey Mouse, so during the writing process of this piece I saw him as Mickey in black and white, on that old tugboat like when he was a shrimper in his youth. I did my best to capture his upbeat attitude, his ability to listen to everything around him at once, and overall, his ability to keep going even when he was alone.

Thank you, Ray Starr. Thank you, Dad.

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Instrumentation: Unaccompanied tenor

Year Written: 2020

Premiere Performer: Randy Westmoreland

Premiered: November 2020 at Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, TX

Text: Robert Frost's poem "Blue-Butterfly Wing"

It is blue-butterfly day here in spring,
And with these sky-flakes down in flurry on flurry
There is more unmixed color on the wing
Than flowers will show for days unless they hurry.
But these are flowers that fly and all but sing:
And now from having ridden out desire
They lie closed over in the wind and cling
Where wheels have freshly sliced the April mire.

Instrumentation: Piano

Year Written: 2020

Premiere Performer: Justin Legel

Premiered: April 2nd 2023 at Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, TX

Program Notes 

The Death of a King captures the final motives and musical emotions of an anonymous performer, playing on a keyboard hidden deep inside the king's castle.

Instrumentation: Flute and marimba

Year Written: 2020

Performers: Nathalie De La Cruz (flute) and Jason House (marimba)

Performance: April 2nd 2023 at Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, TX

Premiered by Elizabeth Esquivel Mondragon (flute) and pre-recorded marimba on November 16th 2021 at Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, TX

Program Notes

The Isle is a piece dedicated to deep diving into my own mind. During the coronavirus quarantine, I spent most of my time alone meditating on my balcony. It acted as my own personal island. I spent many hours reading my wife's favorite book series and stepping away from social media. Most importantly, I listened. I listened to the birds near my third-story apartment. Some mornings they would greet me on my balcony and join me for breakfast. I listened to them and I learned. The flute's melody lines are those birds' songs while the marimba embodies the island I sat on listening to them. The Isle is a reflection of who I've become in my 25 years of life and, more importantly, an experience to learn who I want to become.

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Instrumentation: Alto saxophone, cello, and piano

Year Written: 2019

Premiere Performers: Carter Vernon (alto sax), John Velez (cello), and Justin Legel (piano)

Premiered: April 2nd 2023 at Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, TX

Instrumentation: Tuba and piano

Year Written: 2019

Performers: Julien Aaron (tuba), Hope A Starr (piano)

Performance: November 7th 2022 at Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, TX

Premiered by Garrett Kelly (tuba) and Hope A Starr (piano) on November 13th 2019 at Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, TX

Program Notes

I wrote this duet with a particular set of memories in mind. While I was growing up, I would regularly go with my grandparents in the fall to their deer lease in East Texas. Though I often hunted with them, this piece focuses on what I did the rest of my time there. When I was not hunting I would run off alone into the forest where I could explore and enjoy nature. I remember the sound of the wind flowing through the trees and the crunch of fall leaves fresh under my feet. Even the smell of this forest was gorgeous as the scent of pine pervaded the entire lease. The sound of flowing water and small animals could always be heard nearby. I dedicated the name of this piece, Falling in Fall, to those memories because the trips often felt like being thrust into fall. And, from time to time, we all have to fall into... Well, fall!

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Instrumentation: A cappella SATB choir

Year Written: 2018

Performers: David W Brewer (conductor), Analise Murphy (soprano 1), Ray Guajardo (soprano 2), Fatima Rodriguez (alto 1), Emily Confair (alto 2), Danièle Perez (tenor 1), Grey Billingsly (tenor 1), Ritvik Bhattacharjee (tenor 1), Gabriel Clements (tenor 2), Chase Willis (bass 1), Josh Barnes (bass 1), Luke Mosqueda (bass 1), Fabian Garza (bass 2), and Jose Villalta (bass 2)

Performance: April 2 2023 at 7:30pm at Stephen F. Austin State University's Cole Concert Hall in Nacogdoches, TX

Premiered by Harrison Grigg (conductor), Estefania Rivera and Monica Chavez (sopranos), Jessica Reid and Alexandra Saldaña (altos), Cameron Phillips and Grey Billingsly (tenors), and Joshua Roubieu and Graham Bacak (basses) on November 16th 2021 at Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, TX

Program Notes

Plea started while speaking with my previous mentor and close friend Dr. Chad Robinson about what I would write next. He asked me to think about "what is worth composing for?" The question kept me up for many sleepless nights. Rage, depression, and wild mood swings are all a regular part of my compositional process, so this was nothing new. Eventually, the idea for Plea struck me like a bolt of lightning. It was 3am and my wife was asleep in our bed. I had been up pacing in our home for hours, trying ideas at the piano and failing repeatedly. At this point in my life, I was praying and asking God why I had gone through so many things that all felt meaningless. When I realized that was a question that soldiers often asked, I began surfing YouTube for videos that could spark my thoughts.

I eventually found videos that soldiers sent to their families before passing away. Some of them were filmed in their final bed inside infirmaries, others in non-disclosed locations near war zones. Regardless of where the videos were recorded, they all contained the same things: one soldier, one camera, and honesty. These soldiers knew that what they said in these videos could be the last words their families ever heard from them. Since these videos were labeled "final words", they truly were the last things they said. Men told their wives that they loved them, told their kids they had never seen that they cared for them, and told their parents that they missed them. They even thanked God for the opportunity they had been given to fight and die not only for their country but for their families. And for me. These soldiers had gone overseas to fight not just for the people they knew and loved but also for the people that they had never even met. People like me. So, I wrote Plea in honor of them, their sacrifice, and to help them not be forgotten. Even if only for this moment, they matter.

Instrumentation: Flute and piano

Year Written: 2018

Recording Performers: Jillian Francis (flute), Mary Katherine Schober (piano)

Recorded: 2018

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Instrumentation: String quartet

Year Written: 2018

Recording Performers: Westheimer String Quartet - featuring Sean O'Neal (violin I), Zachary Montasser (violin II), Alexa Thomson (viola), and Daron Kirsch (cello)

Recorded:  2018

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Instrumentation: Piano

Year Written: 2017

Recording Performer: Mary Katherine Schober

Recorded:  2017

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