STRING QUARTETs
Quartet For Vietnam Veterans
Quartet For Vietnam Veterans
Reflecting on the past can inspire a composer to express their experiences through music. With "Symphony For Vietnam Veterans," I have created musical interpretations that reflect my experiences as a soldier in Vietnam. Initially written for string quartet under the title "Quartet For The Sons of Nam" and expanded to full orchestra in 1992, (Symphony For The Sons of Nam). In 2025 to better speak to my service in Vietnam and those Veterans who served with me, the score was retitled as above. A 2025 version has also been orchestrated for string orchestra.
The score is divided into four chapters, each containing individual "events" representing snapshots of my most vivid memories from the war.
In 1986, after participating in the "Chicago Welcome Home Parade" for Vietnam Veterans, I felt compelled to confront the emotions from my time in Vietnam through music composition. Following an invitation in 2012 to witness President Barack Obama proclaimed March 29 as the annual observance of Vietnam War Veterans Day, I decided to reorchestrate and rename the score in recognition of this significant occasion. "Symphony For Vietnam Veterans," along with other compositions, serves as a musical recollection of my memories from service in Vietnam and represents a personal catharsis. Chapters 1 and 2 depict the events leading to my arrival in Vietnam in 1970 and my departure eleven months later, while Chapters 3 and 4 remain to be completed.
Duration: 19 minutes
Score available for purchase in the Omik store.
With Malice Toward None
With Malice Toward None -
In March 2020, I was commissioned by The Apollo Chamber Players to write a work for Electric Violin and String Quartet for their Beethoven 250th Celebration Program. I saw this as a challenge that fits right in with my approach to composition. Many different genres of music have influenced my composing style, and many times those genres overlap in a single work. Not purposeful by technical design but by what feels right for me and my emotional state at that specific time.
Duration: 13 minutes.
[View Video Performance- Live In Houston 2021]
[View Video Performance- ZOOM 2020]
Into The Liquid
Into The Liquid
Into The Liquid - Commissioned by ETHEL, with support from ETHEL’s Foundation for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts.. Score is based on images from the Documerica Project (1971-1977), where the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) hired freelance photographers to photograph different aspects of American life,
Duration: 12 minutes.
Quiet Shadows
A Veterans Lament
Into The Liquid
Quiet Shadows for String Quartet is my musical portrayal of four soldiers together on guard duty in Viet Nam.
Duration: 4 min
[Hear Recording]
A Veterans Lament
A Veterans Lament
A Veterans Lament
A Veterans’ Lament was composed as part of the string quartet “Into The Liquid”, commissioned by the New York City-based Ethel Quartet in 2013.
It is included as the 3rd chapter of the quartet version titled, “Adult Years".
A Veterans' Lament as scored here, has an added Introduction, and is orchestrated for full orchestra, wind ensemble and string quartet with piano. These arrangements continues the composers mission to use music to bring visibility to veterans and their service to country.
Duration: 4 minutes