Original Compositions
I mostly compose art music for acoustic instruments but am always looking for intriguing collaborations. Please contact me for information about current projects, audio samples, scores and parts, or to inquire about commissioning a new work.
Cranberry Canons for Clarinet, Bassoon, and Piano (forthcoming)
My current project, Cranberry Canons, is a commission by the Pennsylvania Music Teachers Association. The work will premiere at Seton Hill University during the summer of 2026.
Hyalite Ice for Flute, Viola, and Harp (2025)
I composed Hyalite Ice for members of Portland-based Third Angle New Music. The work’s title refers to Montana’s Hyalite Canyon, near Bozeman. The canyon offers world-class ice climbing, which inspired the music’s “polyvalent” form.
Perusal Score
Audio Samples:
(forthcoming)
Ghost Town Sounds for Piano Trio (2022)
I wrote Ghost Town Sounds for the Galan Trio, who visited IUP during April of 2022. The piece is set of vignettes inspired by a National Recreation Trail near Indiana, PA. A recording of Ghost Town Sounds is available from Neuma Records.
Audio Samples:
Blacklick (mm. 10-29)
Claghorn (mm. 21-31)
Buena Vista (mm. 30-48)
Six Studies for Piano (2021)
I composed these short studies for my father, who took up piano during retirement. They are moderate in difficulty and involve technical issues like finger substitution, repeated notes, and hands-crossed playing. Each is set in a different diatonic mode.
Audio Sample:
V. Accompanied Canon in A Mixolydian
La Tierra Yerma for Soprano and Piano Trio (2020)
La Tierra Yerma (Desert Land) is a setting of Pedro Salinas's eponymous poem that I created for soprano Mary Logan Hastings and the Litton Piano Trio. The poem is drawn from Salinas’s Presagios (1924), which I discovered through David Garrison’s translation.
Audio Sample:
Measures 97-113
Chaconne for Saxophone, Flugelhorn, and Piano (2020)
I wrote Chaconne at the invitation of saxophonist James Flowers, my colleague at IUP. Like most works in the genre, it is a set of variations, these based on the opening saxophone melody. Chaconne is dedicated to the memory of Shane Michael Farrell.
Audio Sample:
Measures 36-48
Berceuse for Piano (2019)
I composed this short instrumental lullaby to celebrate the birth of my niece, Lola Heydari.
Perusal Score
Audio Sample:
Measures 1-80
Cascades for Woodwind Quintet (2017)
Cascades is a three-movement work inspired by my time in the Pacific Northwest, particularly Washington’s North Cascades National Park. I wrote it for the Faculty Woodwind Quintet at IUP.
Perusal Score
Audio Sample:
Allegro animato, mm. 67-87
Salinas Songs for Soprano and Piano (2016)
Salinas Songs is a setting of three poems from Pedro Salinas’s Seguro azar: “El árbol menos,” “Navacerrada, abril,” and “Los despedidos.”
Capriccio for Piano (2015)
Capriccio is a flashy work that I wrote at the invitation of pianist Patrick Connolly. It is a composite of several sketches linked by a single motif.
Cycles for Piano (2014)
Commissioned by the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford in celebration of their 50th anniversary, Cycles is a four-movement work inspired by the ebb and flow of academic life.
Elegy for Flute and Piano (2013)
Composed in memory of my grandfather, John Levey Sr., Elegy is a simple piece based upon a six-note chord.