COMPOSITION
My work as a writer moves between songwriting and composition. I have an ongoing songwriting partnership with Joey Dosik and Lila Forde, and have released songs with Grammy Award winning artists including Jason Mraz and Debi Nova. My music has also been written and placed for film and television.
Alongside songwriting, I’m a composer in the traditional sense: I write music on the page working directly with melody, harmony, rhythm, counterpoint and orchestration. My composition style draws largely from Brazilian music, Classical music and Jazz, and spans all ensemble sizes; from solo works to chamber groups and full orchestras. I invite you to write with me, in any musical style - surprise me!
SELECTED WORKS
ARRANGING
I think of arranging as writing in service of something that already exists. With an original song, my job is to find what the music is already asking for and to bring out its character, emotion and message without getting in its way. With a cover or reinterpretation the possibilities can be much broader; arranging can become a way of reimagining a piece entirely and finding a new point of view with familiar material.
Much of my arranging work also involves orchestration: translating musical ideas into something that can be played by strings, winds, brass, rhythm sections or full orchestra.
This process is highly collaborative. I’ll often begin with a recording and a conversation with the artist about what they are hearing, then create a mock-up so we can explore possibilities together. Once the direction feels right, I create the score and parts for musicians to read and, when needed, I assemble the musicians who will bring it to life. Let’s do an arrangement together?
SELECTED WORKS
American Born Chinese
Orchestration work on Wendy Wang’s compositions for the Disney+ show “American Born Chinese.”
MUSICAL DIRECTION
Musical direction, for me, begins with understanding an artist’s vision and figuring out what it will take to bring that vision fully to life. An artist may have a strong sense of where they want to go without necessarily knowing every step of how to get there. My role is to help find that path.
Depending on the project, that might mean developing repertoire, shaping arrangements, choosing instrumentation, assembling the right musicians, or guiding the music through rehearsal, recording and performance. This is also how I approach producing: not primarily from the technical side of recording, but by looking at the music as a whole and helping make the creative decisions that allow an artist’s ideas to become fully realized.
SELECTED WORKS
[In Progress]
With Luciana Souza and the group New Moon. So far we were able to perform our work for voice, guitar and string quartet at UCLA and Stanford University, this is a work in progress
GUITAR
Guitar has been at the center of my musical life for more than 30 years. As a guitarist, I’ve toured, recorded with artists across a wide range of styles, and performed for film, television, radio and orchestral projects, all domestically and internationally.
I work on electric and acoustic guitars, both in the studio and onstage, bringing the same attention to sound, feel and the needs of the music that informs the rest of my work.
In recent years, the nylon-string guitar has increasingly become my musical home. It’s at the center of my work in Brazilian music as well as my newest solo music, which I am currently recording. But I love playing electric as well - put a guitar in my hands and I will be happy!