New works, collaborations, and ongoing projects.
CONCERTOS • 2025-7
Featured Soloist
Phillip Glass’s Concerto Fantasy for Two Timpanists and Orchestra, Viet Cuong’s Re(new)al, and Michael Daugherty’s Raise the Roof
Oh the heels of two recent appearances with the Symphony of the Mountains (Cuong, 2025) and the East Tennessee State University Wind Ensemble (Daugherty, 2026), I am thrilled to be preparing for a double timpani concerto with my good friend Dr. Diana Loomer alongside the Johnson City Symphony Orchestra this Spring.
COMMISSIONS • UPCOMING
TMEA Premieres
New pieces from Dr. Tanner Leonardo and Kevin Zetina
The ETSU Percussion Ensemble was recently selected to perform an evening showcase concert at the Tennessee Music Education Association annual conference in Nashville. It has been so rewarding to work with our new percussion faculty member, Kevin Zetina, and my good friend Tanner Leonardo on new works for the show.
COMPOSITION • 2025
Works by Christian Swafford
Moonlight Essense for vibraphone and fixed media.
Moonlight Essence employs spectral audio analysis software to derive a sustained composite waveform from Beethoven’s Sonata quasi una fantasia, Op. 27, No. 2 — popularly known as the Moonlight Sonata — the averaged sonic “essence” of the entire work. Against this nearly overwhelming fixed media track, the vibraphone soloist performs three lines transcribed directly from Heinrich Schenker’s unpublished hierarchical analysis of the sonata, foregrounding its most structurally significant melodic and harmonic elements in the manner of Steve Reich’s resultant patterns. The three sections may be performed in any order. The piece closes as Beethoven began: the opening figure, repeated to niente.
COMMISSIONS • PREMIERED 2022, 2025
Box Truck Blues: Ambulations from Athens to Knoxville and Pastorale No. 3
World premieres for marimba solo and percussion ensemble by Peter Naughton
I have had the distinct pleasure of working with Peter on several projects, and after many performances of his marimba solo, commissioning a piece for my students at ETSU was a no-brainer. Peter has such a unique compositional voice, and I recommend his work every chance I get.