26th Institute for Russian Music Studies (IRMS) Conference
I will be presenting the following session at the 26th IRMS Conference in Bressanone, Italy:
Performing Prokofiev: Articulation, Rhythm, Color, and Style in the Sonata for Solo Violin, Op. 115
When: July 10-15, 2026
Where: Bressanone, Italy
Description:
Sergei Prokofiev’s Sonata for Solo Violin in D major, Op. 115 has long drawn me in for the very qualities that can make it difficult to define: its clarity, wit, restraint, and underlying edge. Although the work has received thoughtful attention in performer-centered studies, it remains comparatively underexplored in the broader scholarship on Prokofiev’s late style.
This lecture-recital grows out of my own experience performing and studying the work. Through live musical examples and commentary, I explore how the sonata’s distinctive voice emerges through articulation, rhythmic energy, tonal color, and sharply drawn character contrasts. Rather than treating Op. 115 simply as a pedagogical miniature or a peripheral work, I argue that it offers a compact but revealing window into Prokofiev’s mature violin style.
By connecting broader stylistic questions to concrete interpretive choices—bow stroke, pacing, accentuation, phrase direction, and coloristic nuance—this project seeks to show not only how the sonata is constructed, but how it comes alive in performance. In doing so, it offers a performer-centered contribution to current Prokofiev scholarship and advocates for Op. 115 as a work of greater artistic richness and expressive depth than it is often assumed to possess.
For more information: https://www.orfeomusicfestival.com/2026-irms-conference
Past Events
50th International Viola Congress 2026
I will be presenting the following session at the 50th International Viola Congress in Paris, France:
The Rhythm of New Life: Two Works for Amplified Viola and Electronics by Stephen Andrew Taylor
When: January 19-23, 2026
Where: Paris, France
Description:
Pulse Aria was inspired by the moment composer Stephen Andrew Taylor and his wife, Chinese-born artist Hua Nian, first heard their unborn child’s heartbeat—a sound at once immense and intimate, like a distant ocean wave carrying a solitary spark of life. Moved by its strange beauty, Taylor sampled the heartbeat to form the foundation of the piece’s rhythmic groove, drawing influence from Björk’s Homogenic. To deepen the otherworldly atmosphere, he added a reversed and pitch-shifted sample of a Chinese singing bowl. Floating above this textured soundscape, the viola’s rubato line evokes the fragile yet fierce presence of life on the verge of beginning.
Achoo Lullaby, composed after the birth of their son Lincoln, captures the wonder of new life. Taylor recorded the baby’s sneezes and hiccups, which were sampled into a playful percussion track. The viola alternates between plucking and bowing, eventually revealing a dreamlike version of a Chinese lullaby that Hua had taught him.
Both pieces blend acoustic and electronic elements, pushing performers to balance technical precision with lyrical expressiveness. Together, they explore the intersection of technology, nature, and human emotion in sound.
For more information: https://www.the50thinternationalviolacongress.com/en
2025 Institute for Russian Music Studies Conference
I will be presenting the following session at the 2025 IRMS Conference in Vipiteno, Italy:
Jump Cuts and Juxtapositions: Film Editing Techniques in Stravinsky’s Petrushka
When: July 8-11, 2025
Where: Vipiteno, Italy
Description:
Igor Stravinsky’s Petrushka (1911) demonstrates a pioneering use of film editing techniques in music, particularly through rapid juxtapositions, abrupt cuts, and shifting perspectives. Stravinsky manipulates rhythm, orchestration, and harmonic contrast in ways akin to montage and jump cuts in cinema. His abrupt changes in texture and harmony mirror film’s ability to splice disparate scenes together, creating a dynamic sense of motion and narrative fragmentation.
A key example is the use of bitonality—such as the famous "Petrushka chord"—which functions like a cinematic dissolve, overlapping different harmonic spaces. The ballet’s structure, built on episodic contrasts, resembles quick scene changes in film, reinforcing its fragmented storytelling. Additionally, Stravinsky’s unpredictable metric shifts parallel the rhythmic pacing of film editing, where cuts can disrupt or accelerate time perception.
These techniques give Petrushka a visual-musical quality, anticipating later collaborations between composers and filmmakers. Stravinsky’s innovations foreshadow how music and film editing would later intertwine, making Petrushka an early model for the intersection of these two art forms.
For more information: https://www.orfeomusicfestival.com/2025-irms-conference