MARCH OF THE WEST RIVER is the third in a series of pieces called Imagined Adventures; short, programmatic works based on childhood fantasies. This piece suggests the timeless childhood game of “Army” as played by rambunctious pre-adolescents on the streets and backyards of a typical suburban neighborhood called “West River Estates.” Although it contains martial, march-like elements, they are filtered through the energy and innocence of kids.

Not only are these adventures about childhood fantasies, but for me, they are also about composer fantasies. Writing these pieces allows me to play in a film music-inspired sandbox I might otherwise not get to do.

MÚSICA PARA EL CAMINO REAL was written the request of the Festival of the Arts Boca, and was premiered as part of their centenary celebration of the city of Boca Raton in 2025.

Addison Mizner, the original planner for Boca Raton, had a vision of a city of luxury and decadence, centered around El Camino Real: the Royal Road. This road was to be dozens of lanes wide for traffic, as well as lined with canals for gondolas. Although the gondolas never materialized, Camino Real is still a road at the heart of Boca Raton. In addition, the city has grown far beyond Mizner's vision of luxury. Boca Raton is a thriving, diverse community, with a vibrant arts and culture scene.

While this work celebrates Mizner's plan for a regal city, it quickly pivots into a quasi-salsa tune, celebrating the melting pot that is Boca Raton and South FLorida.The title is a play on Handel's famed Music for the Royal Fireworks. Given that the name of Boca's Royal Road is in Spanish, and much of this work is inspired by Latin music, Music for the Royal Road became Música Para El Camino Real.

RUNNING ON ROOFTOPS is the first in a series of pieces called Imagined Adventures; short, programmatic works based on childhood fantasies. This fanfare is about the superhero fantasy of running, jumping, swinging, or flying across a city skyline.

It begins with rumbling, dreary, motoric “street-level” music, which lightens as our character spots a fire escape, and begins daydreaming about climbing to the roof to test out new imaginary super powers. As the piece progresses, there are occasional conflicts between the bright, sun-lit rooftop hero music, and the darker, shadowed, street-level music. Eventually, with new super powers well under foot, the final heroic version of the main theme emerges.

Not only is this piece about superhero fantasies, but for me, it is also about composer fantasies. Writing this piece allowed me to play in a film music-inspired sandbox that I might otherwise not get to do.

The orchestral version of this piece was commissioned by The Florida Orchestra and the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters in honor of TFO's 50th anniversary season. It was premiered by The Florida Orchestra and music director Michael Francis in November of 2017.

Performance note: the sixteenth-note rumblings in m.m. 1-16 and m.m. 66-98 are meant to create an intense, buzzing texture. This texture is more important than any individual notes. The conductor may determine it is not worth extensive rehearsal time to "clean" the lines of that texture, which is fine by me.

Olivia's theme is always in the piano, in angelic, bell-like notes, first alone, then with highlights in the strings. The second statement of her theme is joined by Liliana's theme in the violin. The third statement adds Oliver's theme in the cello, allowing all three children to play together in a way never possible in life. As the piece reaches the climax, the tension and sadness of reality enter to disrupt the fantasy, as the strings drop away, letting the piano bells finish their phrase. In one last statement of Olivia's theme, there remains only the highlights from the strings found in the opening of the piece, with the missing piano marking her memory and her absence.

When tasked with composing a work for two violas, two cellos, and two basses, my first thoughts were to the range of the ensemble. This is essentially an ensemble of low voices, after all. I sought to maximize this feature by creating a work focused on establishing a complex bass line groove one element at a time. GROOVE INCUBATION does just that.

The piece opens with several textural elements trying to establish a basic harmonic language. Eventually, the task moves toward discovering a simple pulse, then a basic meter, and so on, until the first element is solidified in the basses. The piece continues this process, adding layers one at a time, until it builds into a dense stacking of rhythmic ideas, complete with several percussive elements as a kind of trap set surrogate.

This work was composed as part of the 2013 Fresh Inc. chamber music workshop hosted by Fifth House Ensemble.

This version for string quartet was written in 2024 for the Con Brio Quartet.

LILY-BY is a lullaby dedicated to my daughter, Liliana Rose Wilt, who was seven months old at the completion of the original piano piece. Her name and nickname (Lily), encoded into musical notes, make up the two halves of the main theme. When in doubt, err on the side of slower rather than faster. Please do not wake the baby. Her parents are very tired. The original piano version of this piece was written at the request of my colleague, Kuo-Pei Cheng-Lin, who premiered it on February 26, 2023. This version for violin and violoncello was written in April 2024.

TAVERN MUSIC is meant to emulate the sounds of a session in a local pub, with friendsand their fiddles surrounding a table sharing a pint. As in much of this musical tradition, players may often be playing the melody in unison, but providing their own, unique ornamentation. The ornamentation notated in this piece should be sufficient, but if players wish to add a little more for added authenticity, they may do so, especially in the first and last movements.

LILY-BY is a lullaby dedicated to my daughter, Liliana Rose Wilt, who is seven months old as of the completion of this piece. Her name and nickname (Lily), encoded into musical notes, make up the two halves of the main theme. Unless specifically indicated, the damper pedal and una corda pedal should be used liberally to create a dream-like sound. When in doubt, err on the side of slower rather than faster. Please do not wake the baby. Her parents are very tired. This piece was written at the request of my colleague, Kuo-Pei Cheng-Lin, who premiered it on February 26, 2023.

• James Weldon Johnson, from Fifty Years & Other Poems

When I was asked to write (A)ROUND FLORIDA, my instructions were to start with the concept of the “Geographical Fugue” by Ernst Toch, and make it more, shall we say, local. I also knew this piece would be premiered on a summer gala concert that was lighter in tone, and downright silly at moments, so that provided the freedom to musically goof around.

The sketching process of this piece was actually quite simple. I made a list of regions, cities, locales, and land marks, all from the state of Florida, that I thought were either fun to say or had interesting rhythmic implications. I assigned, or really transcribed, an appropriate rhythm for each word or phrase, and set about composing the rhythms in a fun and imitative way.

The only time I was concerned with logic was with the very last words, closing the piece on “Boca Raton”. I knew the piece would be premiered in Boca Raton, but I also made this choice out of a sense of ownership. In South Florida, the last syllable of this city is pronounced ruh-TOHN, where in other parts of the country, it is pronounced ruh-TAHN. By ending the piece on a rhythmically emphatic beat, I, in a sense, made official my adoption of Boca Raton as my home by proving I know how to say it correctly.