Composition
Solo Instrumental Works
Collision Etudes (Solo Oboe)
Collision Etudes (2017) was inspired by and composed as a response to Gilles Silvestrini's wonderful etude collection: Six Etudes Pour Hautbois. Where Silvestrini's collection is based on six French Impressionistic paintings, Collision Etudes is based on six paintings by female American painters. American is a melting pot, a beautiful "collision" of cultures and beliefs. Collision Etudes highlights a collision of contemporary art styles, while brining awareness to several significant female American artists.
Summertime- Mary Cassatt
City Landscapes- Joan Mitchell
Jimson Weed- Georgia O'Keeffe
Rainbow- Alma Thomas
Autumn Leaves- Georgia O'Keeffe
My World is Not Flat- Margarete Bagshaw
Instrumental/ Piano Duo Works
Four Personalities (Oboe and Piano)
Four Personalities (composed in 2007) is a four-movement work for oboe and piano based on the Hartman personality test.
Yellow: Yellow is fun-loving. The joy that comes from doing something just for the sake of doing it is what motivates and drives yellow.
White; White is peacekeeper. White is kind, adaptable, and a good listener. Though motivated by peace, white struggles with indecisiveness.
Blue: Blue brings great gifts of service, loyalty, sincerity, and thoughtfulness. Intimacy, creating relationships, and having purpose is what motivates and drives blue.
Red: Motivated by power, red is aggressive and assertive. Red is visionary confident, and proactive.
Four Personalities was given the following review in The Double Reed:
“She composed this fun, entertaining work basing the four movements on the colors used by the Hartman Personality Test… Four Personalities is a lot of fun for oboist, pianist and audience alike. Highly recommended for college and professional recitals.”
Four Personalities has been recorded on the MSR Classics label by Michele Fiala, and on the Centaur Records label by Laura Medisky, Courtney Miller, and Mary Ashley Barret.
Where Do Children Come From? (Oboe and PIano)
For oboe and piano. Commissioned in 2012 by Aryn Day Sweeney. This four-movement work (15 minutes in length), seeks to answer the title’s question. Movements include The Circus, Outer Space, A Higher Place, and Grace. Where Do Children Come From? was selected to be performed at the 2013 Society of Composers Inc. National Conference. Aryn Day Sweeney performed the work at the SCI Convention in March 2013. Dr. Sweeney performed the work at the 2014 International Double Reed Conference, at New York University. Published by TrevCo Music Publishing.
27-72 (Oboe and PIano)
27-72, written in 2019, is a sonata for oboe and piano. It was commissioned by a consortium of Baylor University oboe graduates for their teacher, Dr. Doris Deloach. Movements include:
A Day in the Life
Inside the Box, Outside the Box
Blood, Sweat, and Tears (Reed Making)
Guide Us As We Onward Go
Chrysalis (English horn and piano)
Chrysalis for English horn and piano was commissioned by Carolyn Hove, principal English horn of the L.A. Philharmonic, in 2014. The For English horn and piano. It is a musical analogy of a caterpillar, its metamorphosis, and becoming a butterfly. Within the story is another message: to become spiritually changed.
Mathematics (Bassoon and PIano)
For bassoon and piano. Selected by Trevor Cramer (TrevCo Music Publishing) to compose a piece, commissioned by a consortium of bassoonists from around the world. Premiered at the 2012 International Double Reed Convention by Eric Varner, principal bassoonist of the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra and the Windsor Symphony Orchestra. Mathematics is a three-movement work that focuses on different branches of math: Geometry, Trigonometry, and Integral Calculus.
Jerusalem Fantasy (Two Pianos)
Jerusalem Fantasy (2019) was commissioned by Glenn Harman. Expected premiere: 2021.
Prayer (berimbau and Piano)
Prayer for berimbau and piano (2020) was commissioned by percussionist Jed Blodgett. The work will be premiered in November 2020.
Works for Small Chamber Ensemble
Coastal Kaleidoscope (Flute, Oboe, Piano)
Coastal Kaleidoscope (2012) for flute, oboe, and piano is a three-movement work inspired by my own impressions from a vacation to Monterey California. Movements include: Waves, Seals, and Spring Tide. Commissioned by Elizabeth Young Rennick, former Assistant Professor of double reeds at Eastern Kentucky University. Premiered in March 2014. Published by TrevCo Music Publishing.
Coping (Flute, Oboe, Piano)
Coping (2018) for flute, oboe, and piano is a three-movement work dedicated to the sufferers of anxiety, depression, and other sorrows. Movements include: Counting/ Breathing, Praying, and Running. Commissioned by Celeste Johnson, oboe professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Published by TrevCo Music Publishing.
Brokenvention (Oboe, English Horn, Piano OR Oboe, Alto Saxophone, Piano)
Composed in 2008. Original version for Oboe, Alto Saxophone, and Piano. Additional version for oboe, English horn, and piano. Single movement work (5-6 minutes in length). Published by TrevCo Music Publishing.
Duo Displasia (Oboe and Alto Saxophone)
Duo Displasia (2017) is a displaced fantasia for oboe and saxophone. The two voices weave together baroque and jazz styles in movements Prelude, Courante, Loure, and Gigue. Commissioned by Three Reeds Duo.
Shine (oboe and percussion)
Commissioned by River Oaks Orchestra (2020). More Coming Soon.
Up and Away (Oboe, Bassoon, Piano) (Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Piano)
Trio for oboe, bassoon, and piano. Up and Away (2014) is a three movement work (15 minutes in length) that tells the story of a balloon. Commissioned by the BYU School of Music for the Sundance Trio (Geralyn Giovannetti- BYU, Christian Smith- BYU, Jed Moss.) It was premiered at the 2014 International Double Reed Convention at New York University.
Parable of a Stormy Sea (Two Oboes and English horn)
Parable of a Stormy Sea (2016) was commissioned by Dr. Mark Ostoich (professor of oboe at University of Cincinnati.). The work was premiered at IDRS 2016 in Columbus, Georgia.
Publication: coming soon.
Lost and Found (english horn, Bassoon, piano)
Lost and Found was commissioned by Glenn Harman for the Burning River Winds. Premiere in 2021.
Look (english horn, bassoon, piano)
Look (2020) was commissioned by Amy Selkirk and Mark Lauer. Premiere in 2021.
Brushstrokes (Flute, Oboe, Bassoon)
Trio for flute, oboe, and bassoon. Brush strokes is a four movement work (12 minutes in length.) Each movement is based on a different impressionist or contemporary painter. Commissioned by the Athenia Chamber Ensemble, Ohio University (Alison Brown Sincoff, Michele Fiala, Matthew Morris.) Premiered in October 2014.
Nik-Nak (Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon)
Nik-Nak (2017) was commissioned by the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra for oboist Alecia Lawyer, clarinetist Nathan Williams, and bassoonist Kristen Wolfe Jensen. The title plays on their names as an acronym (N.A.K.) and musicians are called upon to play use a variety of percussive “Nik-Naks.”
Motion (Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon)
Quartet for flute, oboe, clarinet, and bassoon. Motion (2010) is a four movement work (15 minutes in length) that focuses on four different “motions.” Movements include: Bike Ride, Stretch, Tip Toe, and Strut. Commissioned by Arizona State University’s faculty woodwind quartet. Premiered in 2010.
Cloud Songs (oboe, bass, piano)
Cloud Songs (2019) was commissioned by Dr. Courtney Miller, oboe professor at the University of Iowa. The work will be premiered in 2021.
Eyes to see them, Lips to Tell (Reed Quintet)
Eyes to See Them, Lips to Tell (2018) was commissioned by the Arizona Wind Symphony for the Paradise Winds. The work showcases five endangered animals: the Malayan Tiger, the Great Blue Whale, the Axolotl, the Queen Alexandra Wing Butterfly, and the Mexican Gray Wolf.
Melting Pot (Woodwind Quintet)
Melting Pot (2017) was commissioned by the Pacific Sound Woodwind Quintet for doubling woodwind instrumentalists. The work was re-commissioned for woodwind quintet by the Ladies Quintessential Quintet in 2019. Movements include “Bubbly,” “Sweet,” and “Crunchy.”
Dumbarton Oaks (Woodwind Quintet)
Dumbarton Oaks (2019) was commissioned by the United States Air Force Woodwind Quintet. The work is meant to emulate the healing peace of a walk through the famous Washington D.C. park.
Sextet (woodwind Quintet plus piano)
Commissioned by the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra. More coming soon.
Where the Colors Fall (Woodwind Dectet)
Where the Colors Fall (2017) for woodwind dectet (2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns) was commissioned by Brigham Young University-Idaho for the Prismatic Winds. The work is a deconstruction of the hymn High On a Mountain Top.
Forecast (Oboe and Four Percussionists)
Forecast for oboe and four percussionists (2009) is a four movement work (17 minutes in length) that depicts the life cycle of a storm. Commissioned by Dr. Caryn Creamer, oboe. Forecast was awarded Utah Best Major Work Award at the 2010 Utah Composer’s Guild Competition. Published by TrevCo Music Publishing. (Recording of 1st and 2nd movement below.)
Works for Large Ensemble
Cryptids (Concert Band)
A cryptid is a creature or plant whose existence has been suggested but not discovered or documented by the scientific community. Cryptids often appear in folklore and mythology, leading to stories and unfounded belief about their existence. This three-movement was a project for an orchestration class I took in 2014. It is six minutes in length. Movements include: Big Foot, Loch Ness, and Abominable Snow Monster. Premiered in Fall of 2014 by the BYU Symphonic Band. Winner of the Winter 2017 CCM Composers Competition.
Dreamscape (Concerto for Oboe and Orchestra)
Concerto for Oboe and Orchestra. Dreamscape is a four movement work (20-22 minutes in length) that takes the listener through four different dreams. The concerto was commissioned by William D, and Lois W. Johnson, and premiered by Jeralee Johnson and students at the Boston Conservatory for her Master’s Thesis project in February 2014. Nancy Ambrose King performed Dreamscape with the Brigham Young University Chamber Orchestra in December of 2014, and at IDRS in 2016.
Changing Faces (Symphony Orchestra)
Every person wears so many different faces in a lifetime, or even in a single day. We wear the game face, the poker face, or the straight face. Sometimes how we feel is “written all over their face,” sometimes we fall on our face, and sometimes we face our fears. Because we are experiencing the myriad of emotions that is life, we must always be changing faces.
In Changing Faces, a single phrase wears different faces in each of the following movements:
I. Fresh Face
II. Face Lift!
III. Blue in the Face
IV. Face the Music
V. Face Off
Each movement is based on the same descending fourth and second interval motive, yet the context and delivery change as if to signify our own changing states of mind. Changing Faces depicts one of the many beautiful aspects of being a human being: the ability to experience and express the full spectrum of emotions.
Alone (Concerto for Cello and Orchestra)
Alone concerto for cello and orchestra was composed in 2020. I was the recipient of an International Barlow Foundation award to compose a concerto for cellist Andres Diaz and the Richmond (IN) Symphony Orchestra. The work will be premiered in February 2022.
Tlapalli, Tlahuilli (concerto for flute, oboe, clarinet, and bassoon soloists and orchestra)
Tlapalli, Tlahuilli (estimated completion November 2020) was commissioned by the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra. The work tells the story of how the world received its color. Tlapalli, Tlahuilli will be premiered in February 2021.