Program Notes from April 2026:
Psalm Pastorale is not religious, but an inward melody of asking; a song of a quiet, focused wish. The piece inhabits that space between stillness and unrest: even in moments of tranquility, something unsettled continues to press through, as a landscape of quiet is never entirely at rest. Warm brass chorales give way to sharper cutting “cuivre” timbres, allowing moments of tranquility and turmoil to coexist and blur into a dream-like haze. It’s a psalm that resolves not into gratification, but rather reflection. Psalm Pastorale is in one movement, and approximately six minutes in duration.
Purchase Psalm Pastorale here!
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Performed April 14, 2026 at Williams Hall, New England Conservatory
Trumpet – Kayla Adams, Sarah Flynn
Horn – Noah Hawryluck
Trombone – Alvin Ho
Tuba – Riley McMahon
Recording/Mixing Credits to the New England Conservatory Recording and Performance Technology Services Department
Performed by Lauren Enos
Program Notes from April 2026:
"Forsaken," composed for solo clarinet, is a series of short movements exploring the feelings of and reactions to being left behind, isolated, or forsaken.
Each movement, with the exception of the final, is confined to its own unique pitch-class register: every pitch is assigned a single octave in which it may appear for the entirety of the movement. This creates a distinct sonic space for each movement to inhabit and explore, while also imposing a sense of restriction; the feeling of being “trapped” or alone.
00:00 I. Wandering
01:40 II. Sorrowfully
03:10 III. Playfully
03:59 IV. Pensively
06:26 V. Tranquil
With immense gratitude to Lauren Enos and Dr. Kati Agócs. Composed Spring of 2026
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Performed April 7, 2026 at Brown Hall, New England Conservatory
Clarinet – Lauren Enos
Recording/Mixing Credits to the New England Conservatory Recording and Performance Technology Services Department
“March of a Tiny Devil”
A sardonic, Sousa meets Shostakovich march for a chamber ensemble, performed here at the New England Conservatory.
A beautiful violin solo transcribed for solo marimba! My farewell of sorts to my undergrad.
Hymns Renewed bridges the ancient and the modern, blending some of the earliest known Greek melodies with contemporary extended techniques for flute, cello, and tam-tam. The piece draws from Petros Tabouris' reconstructions of the Hymn to the Muse and Hymn to Calliope and Apollo, borrowing these melodies and placing them in a new context.
A lively string quartet with a driving momentum that twists and dances around a lively 7/8 meter!
Note: Originally titled “Rondo”
One of my favorite pieces I composed, performed here by the performer I composed it for at my senior recital.
“March of a Tiny Devil”
A sardonic, Sousa meets Shostakovich march for a chamber ensemble, performed here at my senior recital
Composed by Omar Thomas Recorded at a dress rehearsal, March 2025
Tambourine: Skyler Hedblom
Piece: Stubernic
Composer: Mark Ford
Performers: Sarah Beacock, Jeffery Lund (solo), Skyler Hedblom
Performance: University of Puget Sound, Schneebeck Concert Hall, 1/31/2025 — Jacobsen Concert Series, "Inspiration"
Program Notes:
Stubernic (pronounced "Stew-bur-nick") is a unique, challenging marimba trio for one 4 1/3-octave marimba shared by three performers. Dedicated to Stefan and Mary K. Stuber--and their music studies in Nicaragua--the title suddenly makes sense: "Stuber-Nic" (leave it to Ford to personalize a composition to this degree). This single-movement, three-part work should be memorized. Player 2, situated in the center of the instrument, has the most difficult part, in that the four-mallet middle section is a rhapsodic, guitar-like cadenza. Players 1 and 3 (tacet for most of the middle section) are positioned on either end of the marimba's range and provide clever accompaniment to Player 2. At one point, Players 1 and 3 must develop an ostinato on the frame and resonators of the marimba. The composition's first section sounds minimalistic and modal, and there is evidence of Ford's musical humor in that the performers rotate up the marimba_in the fashion of a Central American marimba family playing musical chairs--before returning to their original register. The final section is truly an ensemble tour-de-force in that the parts are virtually all doubled in octaves at the end. There is also evidence of a set of variations on the modal melodic material presented in the first section. Players 1 and 3 utilize two-mallet technique throughout this ten-minute work. Stubernic is a spectacular ensemble for three mature keyboard percussion performers."
- Jim Lambert Percussive Notes, December 1995
Composed fall 2024 Premiered and performed here 9/27/2024 at the University of Puget Sound School of Music's Collage Concert, Schneebeck Concert Hall
Alex Westervelt - Innato
Skyler Hedblom - Djembe
Drum cam from the University of Puget Sound Opera Theatre’s 2023 production of “Scenes from the Opera House to the Cabaret.”
Song: “A New World”
Composer: Jason Robert Brown
Directed by Dawn Padula
Bass drum solo performed for the 2023 Society for Composers Inc. (SCI) Conference