Whether writing a cello concerto for a specific cellist or architecting a Virtual Reality immersive sonic environment with designers and technologists, my work is collaborative. My artistic voice builds on the inherent cathartic qualities of music through the use of narrative. “Story” is integral to my work even when there is no text, as in my symphonic tone poem, Reaching Antares. The piece is programmatic – i.e. having its roots in the real world, as opposed to an abstract symphonic work.  My computer music uses story-telling and narrative to create animated poetry. The use of computers to process the source material, combining the spoken word with music to create new unimaginable sounds is hallmark to my work.

My first experiment with this concept in 1991, Positive Thinking about AIDS expanded to incorporate animated visual images of human cells with the sound scape. This multimedia experience drove me to explore more possibilities for rendering story through music interactively combining other art forms.  Such efforts have expanded my scope and vision resulting in works incorporating aural events which move the listener through an immersive environment, seamlessly engaging  advanced computing, sensor-based and virtual reality tools.