Self portrait
It's not easy being a composer of contemporary classical music. The last hundred years have been witness to a separation between audience and composer that might only now be reversing. The energies of numerous composers in the avant-garde movements have unearthed a wealth of new musical ideas, sounds and styles, many of which, while enriching our field, baffle listeners and discourage their participation in emerging art. My hope is to be able to take elements of this new musical landscape and fashion them into a form entertaining and intriguing, thoughtful and approachable. I feel a very strong connection between this hope and my physics studies. Although modern physics is full of fascinating ideas, it is clothed in wilting mathematics and dizzying complexity. But for both physics and music, there remains an obligation on the part of the initiates to find the key ideas, polish them and present them in a way that the lay-public can appreciate. Only then can we hope that modern classical music will have a strong following and wider appreciation without simply repeating what has been done before.