Against/Sharp (2020)
Instrumentation: 2 ob., 2 cl., 2 hrn., vibe, piano, 3 vln., 2 vla., cello, bass, narrator)
Duration: 5’
Against/Sharp is dedicated to the Black women and queer people of color who lost their lives violently as a result of their intersecting identities. 32 seconds of silence are dispersed throughout the piece in honor of the 23 trans and gender non-conforming lives taken in 2020 (by the time of composition), many of which were people of color. The work takes its title from a Zora Neale Hurston quote: “I feel most colored when thrown against a sharp, white background.”
Notable Performances/Awards
2022 American Academy of Arts and Letters Charles Ives Scholarship Award
Carnegie Mellon University Contemporary Music Ensemble; Dr. Daniel Nesta Curtis, conductor (Pennsylvania, USA)
Austin Unconducted (Texas, USA)