I premiered the voice and piano version of my composition Songs in the Dark at the UNLV Nextet concert Wednesday, November 2nd with Christina Wright-Ivanova on piano. We had a blast performing, and I’m just so happy to be a part of the music-making experience. I wrote these songs over the summer when I came across these highly emotional and dark poems by my favorite writer Emily Brontë (1818-1848). 
I LOVE Brontë’s poetry, and these reminded me of lyrics to rock songs. Therefore, I decided to compose what I consider alternative rock art song, and create a narrative that ties these poems together: how the main character deals with the varying emotional states that accompany feelings of despair or loss 1) First one, “Frozen,” she is caught in the middle of a metaphorical storm that ultimately sucks her into the vortex of despair. 2) “Fall, Leaves, Fall” she embraces darkness, welcoming death around her. 3) “I’ll Not weep,” she is tired of that low feeling and instead does a massive “over-correction” trying to turn the feeling into hope: Even though she may be sad that he dies, she really is just sad to be stuck here and hopes that she can die too very soon and join him.
COMPOSER