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For Clarinet, Cello and Piano (2025), duration: 7’

‘Aubade of a Broken Sky’ was written as a reaction to a similarly titled poem by Ocean Vuong – ‘Aubade of a Burning City’. I was struck not only by his evocation of the Vietnam War, but by the visceral, raw quality of his writing. He often places pleasure and pain side by side, blurring the lines between the two in an unbearable way. Similarly, the photography of Peter Hujar – specifically the queer-centered collection ‘Orgasmic Man’ – blurs a similar line. You are unsure whether the subjects of the work are in pleasure or in pain. Yet you know in both cases that through being a witness to the art, you’re trespassing on something intimate. My own work reacted to this – to how closely these innermost feelings sit to one another. This work was first performed on the 10th of October by Ensemble Liaison at the Athenaeum Club, winning the 2025 Athenaeum Club Composition Competition.

For Solo Trombone (2024), duration: 7’

This piece was originally written without program notes, because the piece is really ‘absolute’ music, that reveals its own meaning quite clearly. However, since finishing it, I’ve been reflecting on the process of writing it, and I have come to realize that all the musical characteristics that make the piece what it is, are thanks to my collaboration with Archer. Since the beginning, he was completely willing to offer his advice, support, and outstanding technique, whilst also being constantly open to new ideas. This has really made the piece what it is, allowing me to write for the Trombone in a very comprehensive way. I dedicate this piece to Archer.

For Trumpet and Piano (2024), duration: 12’

I. The Furthest City Light

II. Luminary Clock

This two-movement work ‘Acquaintances’ attempts to bridge the distance between notated and improvisatory musical styles. Programmatically, the piece is a meditation inspired by Robert Frost’s Acquainted with the Night, resulting in music that is transitory and dream-like, the second movement in particular reflecting the constancy of a ‘Luminary Clock’. The First Movement is recitative-like, in a rough Arch Form, with an almost symmetrical structure and broad gestures from the Trumpet and Flugelhorn. The central piano theme of the Second Movement is static, beneath free, improvisatory gestures. Although improvisatory, the movement does incorporate more formal compositional features, such as the middle section’s displacement and metric alterations of the theme. This piece was first performed by Yael Marks and Max Kielly on the 14th of June 2024, at Ormond College.

For SATB and Piano (2025), duration: 4’

The title, ‘Towards a Better Day’ shares its name with an artwork by New Zealand-based artists Luigi and Kate Agnelli. The work is moving, promising some sort of hope in the future when the shadows that follow you will disappear. The greatest challenge for anyone after loss is to continue to endure, knowing that something about yourself and the world around you have irrevocably changed.

For Pierrot Sextet (2025), duration: 8’

The title of the work – ‘Invisible Wounds, Silent Healings’ had no direct meaning at first. A set of words that were somehow poignant and meaningful. The piece was then written responding to this title alone. After the work was finished, its meaning became clear. As we move through life, day-to-day it is easy to get caught up in ourselves and forget the struggles of others – both those immediately around us, in our community, and in the world. We all carry the invisible struggles and wounds of love, loss, and longing – feelings that often go unspoken and unseen. We battle these struggles in private, without the judgement of others. We are the only ones who can silently pull ourselves apart, and build ourselves back up once more– an invisible form of healing. The work starts defiantly, with a violence that quickly dissipates. It then moves from slow stasis to ambiguity and finally the clarity of ‘healing,’ ending without definite resolution. The ensemble is also particularly significant. Each instrument acts as both a solo voice and simultaneously a part of a larger voice.

For Soprano Saxophone and Piano (2025), duration: 8-9’

This work was first conceived at the beginning of January. I knew I wanted the piece to be a continuation or a ‘reply’ to a jazz standard of some sort. I settled on ‘They Can’t Take That Away from Me’ (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin), a striking piece to me because unlike many love songs of the American Songbook, the song seems to focus of the small, everyday aspects of love. I also found a lyric that was especially poignant – ‘We may never, never meet again.’ I don’t usually like writing overly sentimental music, but in this case, I believe this song is truly about acceptance. About the transience and everyday aspect of love. This piece was written for Tom Lowe, to be premiered at the 2025 World Saxophone Congress in Harbin, China.

Premiered by Tom Lowe on the 7th of August 2025 at the 2025 World Saxophone Congress in Harbin, China. This piece was originally written for Saxophone Quintet (Soprano 1, Soprano 2, Alto, Tenor and Baritone), but this arrangement is for Solo Soprano Saxophone and Piano. This arrangement was premiered on the 26th of August 2025 on 3mbs, by Tom Lowe and Max Kielly.

For Saxophone Quintet (2025), duration: 8-9’

This work was first conceived at the beginning of January. I knew I wanted the piece to be a continuation or a ‘reply’ to a jazz standard of some sort. I settled on ‘They Can’t Take That Away from Me’ (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin), a striking piece to me because unlike many love songs of the American Songbook, the song seems to focus of the small, everyday aspects of love. I also found a lyric that was especially poignant – ‘We may never, never meet again.’ I don’t usually like writing overly sentimental music, but in this case, I believe this song is truly about acceptance. About the transience and everyday aspect of love. This piece was written for Tom Lowe, to be premiered at the 2025 World Saxophone Congress in Harbin, China. This work was premiered by Tom Lowe on the 7th of August 2025 at the 2025 World Saxophone Congress in Harbin, China.

For Solo Piano (2025), duration: 5’

This piece responds directly to a photograph by Diane Arbus – “The Backwards Man in His Hotel Room”. The work is one of Arbus’s early works, and in each piece, there is always a sense that she recognizes the subject and the subject recognizes her – an act of mutual seeing. This picture in particular always seemed like such a complete picture of loneliness, and the despair one feels when they are at odds with their own body. There is something poignant about the hotel room as well – the bare lightbulb, the asymmetrical furniture. The sense that the very world of the photograph is temporary and fleeting. That the man in the picture – maybe a contortionist? – is performing for themself. Ever since first seeing the photograph, I have always wanted to write music to accompany it. Music that would be both tentative and voyeuristic, and that expresses that same sense of loneliness.

For solo piano, (2025), duration: 1’30”

There are paths in outer Kangaroo Valley that I would often walk through. If the time of day was right, the escarpment would glow of amber, illuminating the burned trees on the ridge line. Since 2020, much of the land has been going through a process of quiet regeneration. Although now the damage is almost invisible, there are still small signs of what was. I frequent those paths less often now, but I walk through them when I can. This work was written quickly, in one night and lots of the harmonic language goes back to my first musical influences – Bill Evans in particular. As well as this, I was feeling the nostalgia of returning to a place that holds so many complicated memories. It was a strange feeling – like running into an old friend, and partway into the conversation, you realise you in fact have nothing in common anymore, and you don’t even know how to meaningful talk to this person. The piece simultaneously looks back to what was, and forward to what may be. Written for the World Piano Teacher’s Association Australia (WPTA) Inaugural International Piano Competition.