Composer & Orchestrator
Score big or go home, that's what I always say.
James asked for Sibelius at the end of his first year of college. And that was it: a whole new world of musical possibilities and creativity opened to him and an incalculable amount of time has spent in the subsequent decade + getting those pesky ear worms and ideas onto paper in a (some may argue an unnecessarily) big way! He still uses Sibelius but has expanded his musical library to include NotePerformer which has elevated the demos he is able to produce. Here are just some of the pieces and endeavors that he's been toiling on.
Premiered Works
‣ Reflection: Innocent Thoughts About Peace
The choral department of the Cali School of Music at Montclair State University hosted a composition competition in 2013. The task was to set to music a Martin Luther King Jr. Day poem written by a young child (Paige Buchanan). The competition was adjudicated by a panel of industry professional composers including Morten Lauridsen (the guy behind "O Magnum Mysterium"). Each piece was performed by MSU's select choir Vocal Accord and then a winner was announced... it was James' version entitled "Reflection: Innocent Thoughts About Peace." The prize was the performance of the piece at Weill Recital Hall (Carnegie Hall) in March 2014. The accompanying video is an audio-only recording of the premiere performance by Vocal Accord conducted by Heather Buchanan and accompanied by Steven Ryan on piano.
Audio from the premier performance of "Reflection: Innocent Thoughts About Peace"
‣ Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
One of the added pleasures of performing in the Oregon Cabaret Theatre's 2019 production of Sweeney Todd was that in the paired down ensemble version (with only 9 actors total), James offered his talents to orchestrate for the reduced pit and they were open to granting him that opportunity. It took months, tediously studying each measure between different versions, but eventually the entire musical was reconceived for cello, woodwind, and piano. Unfortunately, the cellist had to back out so during tech, James was tasked with re-orchestrating the cello part for trombone (which actually lent itself better to the 1920s time period the production was aiming for).
‣ The Bells (Poe)
Edgar Allen Poe's "The Bells" is an onomatopoetic collection of four poems, each describing the tantalizing, titillating, torturous tintinnabulation of four types of bells: silver, golden, brazen, and iron. James set each bell to music and in 2017 at a Tabernacle Concert with the Utah Festival Opera & Musical Theatre, James had the opportunity to premiere both Silver and Brazen accompanied by Sara Chiesa on piano. Previously in 2016 in his final recital of his masters degree, James premiered Iron with Travis Bloom on piano.
The Hogwarts Song Anthology
In 2020 while he was rereading Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, James started humming a tune at the passage when the students and faculty join in a rendition of the school song. That led to him record himself singing his tune, eventually transcribing it onto manuscript paper in front of his piano, et voila: The "Hogwarts Song Anthology" project was begun. Although there's been little to no progress made in the last few years, James has not only composed but also recorded himself singing songs drawn directly from the pages of all seven books. These include The Egg's Clue, From Peeves, With Love (a compilation of some of the poltergeists' choicest puns and remarks), The Sorting Hat's Songs (years 1, 4, and 5), and Ginny's Valentine Poem (as performed by the 'cupids' hired by Professor Lockhart for Valentines Day 1993). Other songs have also been written, but not yet recorded or finished.
Hogwarts Song Anthology
Hogwarts Song Anthology
From Peeves, With Love - Hogwarts Song Anthology
The Egg's Clue - Hogwart's Song Anthology
Ginny's Valentine for Harry - Hogwarts Song Anthology
The Sorting Hat's Song (Year 5) - Hogwarts Song Anthology
The Sorting Hat's Song (Year 1) - Hogwarts Song Anthology
The Sorting Hat's Song (Year 4) - Hogwarts Song Anthology
Hogwarts School Song
From Peeves, With Love (Classics from your favorite Hogwarts Poltergeist)
The Egg's Clue
The Sorting Hat's Song (Year 1)
The Sorting Hat's Song (Year 4)
The Sorting Hat's Song (Year 5)
Ginny's Valentine's Poem for Harry
Weasley is our King
Requiem Mass
It wasn't the first piece he wrote, but it wasn't far from it: James' ongoing project of composing a Requiem mass has been in the works sine 2010. When James transferred to Montclair State University, he joined the University Chorale and the first thing he ever tackled with that group was none other than Verdi's Messa da Requiem. It could have been the epic scope, the terrifying moments of Dies irae or the Rex tremendae, or the double choir/double fugue Sanctus but James was hooked on the idea that he, too, had to have a crack at musically making sense of faith and spirituality and the human fascination (probably from their inability to fully understand) with death. Inspired by the sweeping film scores he has enjoyed listening to since he was a child, this project has continued to grow over the years that he's spent working on it. Originally scored for solo baritone, choir, and strings, his mass has now expanded to full orchestra. The first half of the mass (from the Introit to the end of the Sequence) is completely done, he is now working on the orchestration of the latter half (Domine Jesu through to In paradisum) with minor sections still needing to be composed. He is excited to eventually see the entire mass realized so he can share it as a memorial for his dear departed Nana.
