Small Ensemble

Go Down Moses arrangement for University of Michigan Symphony Band

As young boy, I worked with my grandfather during the summers paving driveways in Rocky Mount, Virginia. He was a task master. Things had to be done the right way and with haste when he asked for it in his own playful way.

Journey is inspired by the following poem: Life is a Journey From once proximal end to other.

This piece is an artistic reflection dedicated to those who have been murdered wrongfully by an oppressive power; namely Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner and Michael Brown.

As the son of a Pentecostal preacher, no other memory stands out more than being a part of a “tarrying service”. The “tarry service”, usually on Friday nights, was for those members (mostly teenagers) who had not received the gift of the Holy Spirit.

This piece was inspired by an interview with Oprah Winfrey

Commissioned by the Gabriela Lena Frank Music Academy in response to the COVID 19 pandemic.

Between 1916 and 1970, the mass exodus of African-Americans leaving the rural South, seeking homes in the urban West, Midwest, and Northeast became known as the Great Migration.

The pandemic of COVID-19 has continued to influence my social, professional and personal life in ways that I never imagined.