Violin Sonata No. 1 Recorded by Emma Steele and Vahan Sargsyan on the Ablaze Record Label. View program notes: http://www.ablazerecords.net/millennial_vol3.html#Robert

String Quartet No. 1 Recorded by the JACK String Quartet. Youtube video has over 2,000 views. Listen to the first movement: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOQiKpodSNE

Fanfare for symphonic orchestra
I wrote "Fanfare" for Orchestra during January 2011. The piece was premiered at Soldiers and Sailors Hall in Oakland, PA on February 18, 2011 by the Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Tobias Volkmann. Fanfare is a short rhythmic piece based around the pentatonic scale. Listen to premiere of Fanfare

Broken Records for symphonic orchestra
Broken Records was premiered by the Washington Metropolitan Philharmonic Orchestra in February 2011

Broken Records not only refers to the imagery that it is meant to evoke, which includes a gramophone running a broken ragtime record in a dark industrial setting, but reflects on personal milestones in my career as a composer.The piece begins with tremolos in the violin sections, which evolves into haunting chromatic progressions in the woodwinds and brass. The phrase reaches its apex, then dissolves into a brief ragtime piano solo that acts as one of two central themes of the piece. The second of these two themes is a fast-paced, jazzy, aleatoric, and occurs approximately three minutes into the piece. As I wrote this piece, I reflected on and revised my creative process, leading to a completely different compositional structure. More specifically, I focused on the nature of thematic repetition and orchestral textures and sonorities. While writing the piece, I had set a myriad of personal goals and ended up achieving them. Structurally, the piece envelops a series of jazzy depression-era-like swing tunes, which are bound by haunting “structured yet aleatoric” gestures in the woodwinds and strings. The stoicism of the recurring themes is meant to reflect the imagery offered by the title and reflect on the dramatic changes in classical music during the 20th century. The piece is to be imagined in “black and white.”

The Woods at Night for symphonic orchestra
The Woods at Night was played by the Duquesne Contemporary Ensemble and the Carnegie Mellon Contemporary Ensemble