Compositions

Elokai Netzor (O Lord, Guard My Tongue) for mixed choir

Elokai Netzor (O Lord, Guard My Tongue) performed by the North American Cantors Assembly Choir at the 77th Convention, Minneapolis 21 May 2024.
Conducted by Cantor Hinda Labovitz.
Dedicated with permission to Ofir Libstein

Hi all, This is one out of the four works that I presented at the World Saxophone Congress in St Andrews july 2012. All of the pieces were commissioned by myself to promote new music for the tenor saxophone and to showcase up coming composers of Perth Western Australia.

Check out "Dot" (2012) commissioned and performed by Erin Royer! Inspired by the words of 20th century artist Paul Klee: A line is a dot that went for a walk. It is downright rhythmic madness! The performers are firing on all cylinders!

I wrote "Dance in Defiance" at the 2012 Altantic Music Festival at Colby College, Waterville Maine, USA. It starts with a deceiving sense of calm, before evolving into riotous rhythms near the end!

This one's a more personal composition of mine, written at a time when things weren't all "sunflowers, lollipops and rainbows", and yet despite it all I got through it. The result was "Alas, If I Forget You.." for Big Band. Its message: If you forget why you do things, then the things you do will be forgettable.

I was applying for a music scholarship in Year 11 which required me to perform a piece on piano. Back then performing made me really nervous, so my teacher recommended I write something to play instead. To my surprise I won the scholarship, with my composition "Autumn Oak" (2007)!

I've always envisioned "Autumn Oak" (2007) to be accompany a cartoon animation. If you know of any animators (or are one yourself), I'd love to hear from you!