I became interested in composing when my son started writing music for the Fear No Music Young Composers project. He is shy and he asked me to sit with him through his composition lessons. After several years of vicarious lessons, I decided to try composing myself.
The Pacific Crest Sinfonietta rehearsed at my son's school and the conductor there asked him to write a piece for them. He didn't want to, so I decided I would try writing a piece for them. I got hooked on composing, and since then I've written pieces for piano, chamber ensembles and orchestra. I have studied composition with Bob Priest, Tomas Svoboda, Jonathan Newman and Kenji Bunch. I have also taken a number of music classes at Marylhurst University.
Three Representative Works:
A Few Regrets (Nov. 2013)
String Quartet Movement 3 (Oct. 2014): Emerging From the Mist
Blind Light (Nov. 2012)
String Quartet Movement 3 (Oct. 2014): Emerging From the Mist
Blind Light (Nov. 2012)
Oregon Connection: I grew up in Salem, Oregon and graduated from Willamette University in Salem. After a few years in other places, I went to graduate school at the University of Oregon, earning a Ph.D. in chemistry. I have lived in Portland for more than twenty years now. I have been inspired by my association with the Pacific Crest Youth Sinfonietta here: when I started composing in 2006, my first piece was written for the Sinfonietta, and they have been playing pieces I write for them ever since. Recently, I started volunteering with the BRAVO youth orchestra at Rosa Parks School in North Portland, and I have also written music for them to perform. I have also written music for for the Marylhurst Symphony, where I played the cello for four years.
