For Holy Week 2023, I wrote three organ voluntaries that became my "Triduum in Three Movements". This piece is an expanded version of the "Good Friday" middle movement, arranged for violin and cello. A deeply emotive work drawing from the likes of Barber's Adagio for Strings and Elgar's Nimrod, this composition seeks to tap into the depths of the soul the love and loss many felt and still feel to this day for Christ's crucifixion.

Dedicated to Andrew Messersmith and his fiancée Addison Darby, the musicians who asked for and premiered the piece.

This piece is a reduction of the first section of my 2019 opus Pinnacle, swapping out solo violin for greater-bodied viola and massive orchestra for more practical pipe organ. From the notes of that work: “The moment a person achieves his/her potential, there is an overwhelming sense of joy and pride in the accomplishment. However, the moment would hold little meaning were it not for the chain of events that led the individual to that specific point in his/her life.” While the passage here does not embark on nearly as extensive of a musical journey as the piece from which it is derived, it offers a glimpse at the same hope that pervades its parent composition.

This piece, originally written for viola and string orchestra as the ninth movement of Constellations: A Suite for String Orchestra, was inspired by Cygnus, the Swan. Where the orchestral version soars to great heights, capturing the bird's dramatic ascent into the stars, this simpler arrangement taps into a gentler, more intimate aspect of Cygnus's exquisite flight. 

Everyone has their times of adversity, times where they are struggling to get ahead or to make ends meet. As the title suggests, this piece calls to all those in difficult situations to persevere, to show courage, to brave the tough times. You can do it; you have the power within you to keep going. You are endowed with fortitude.

Dedicated to my mother.

This viola-piano duet gets its name from an image that comes to my mind of a lone Spanish Galleon braving the high seas on a journey for fame and fortune. Its perseverance is communicated in the A section, its beauty and grace in the B section, and its power in the C section. Written for my mother's birthday, I wanted the music to feel light, yet exciting and adventurous.

Dedicated to my mother.

I consider this to be my first true piece. Written and performed privately for my mother's birthday in 2015, the piece received its first ever public performance during the Schmidt Sibling Showcase my sister and I put on at our childhood church in 2023.

Dedicated to my mother.