composition

Click on a title for more information, video scores and/or sound clips.

• Three Pœms of e.e. cummings (1983) soprano & piano

until and i heard

• Two pœms of Theodore Roethke (1985) soprano & piano

Wish for a Young Wife

• Two Prayers (1986,1989) mixed choir, a cappella

for James Wood and the Madrigal Singers of St. Paul's School

Jesu Grant Me This I Pray

O Lord, who art unchangeable (Kirkegaard)

• "Destiny or Discovery" (1993) sequenced Synthesizer and trumpet, recorder and guitars

for the Christa McAuliffe Planetarium

• Aviarium (1994) mixed choir and orchestra

Commissioned by the Concord Chorale

Hope is the thing with feathers (Dickinson)

The Butterﬂy (Friedmann)

The Windhover (Hopkins)

• Daughtersongs (1995 NHSCA New Works Grant) voice & piano

for Peggo Horstmann Hodes

Born Yesterday (Larkin)

Surrender (Larsen)

Listen (Tomahanso)

For Jessica, My Daughter (Strand)

Lullaby (Hodes/Caswell)

• Ubi Caritas (1995) three part chorus

for the Polyphony Choir, Abbey of Regina Laudis, Bethlehem, CT

• Requerdos Imaginarios: Quartet for Flute, Oboe, Guitar & 'Cello (1996)

commissioned by the Concord Community Music School

• Magnificat and Nunc dimittis (1997, 2019) mixed choir, organ and maracas; opt. sm. orch.

commissioned for MJ Hackett and St. Paul's School Choir

• Sarasongs (2002) women’s choir, flute, clarinet & piano, poems by Sara Teasdale

commissioned by Concord Community Music School

Life has loveliness to sell

• Avaloketishavara's Taxi (2003) for woodwind quartet

commissioned by The Infinities Ensemble

• Epitaph Dances (2003-4) piano solo

commissioned by Gregg Pauley

Epitaph Piazzolla: Tango

Epitaph Lauro: Vals

Epitaph Ginastera: Danza

Epitaph Bernstein: Mambo

• Piano Sonata (2005) piano solo

for Peggy Senter

• brave, bright cry (2005) voice, flute, clarinet & piano, poetry of e.e. cummings

until and i heard

since feeling is first

it may not always be so

• artsongs (2006) Baritone & piano

Rothko (Marc Elihu Hofstadter)

Monet (Lisel Mueller)

Pollock (Danel Hare)

Chagall (Lawrence Ferlinghetti)

• Wind Words (2007) Mixed Choir and Small Orchestra, poetry of Theodore Roethke

Commissioned for the Concord Chorale

• three lines (after roethke) (2008) for flute and piano

for Jean Benson & Gregg Pauley

1. The soul has many motions...

2. The spirit moves, yet stays...

3. Being, not doing, is my first joy...

• a hole in a flute (2008) for mixed choir, harp and hand percussion

text from the poetry of Hafiz

for Kathleen Lyon-Pingree

• NEW Old American Songs (2009) for voice, flute and piano

for The Larksong Trio

1. I'll Fly Away

2. Oh, Dear, what can the matter be?

3. I will go on my way

4. Hush little baby

5. Ezekiel saw the wheel

• arr. Andante and Capriccio (Gabriel Faure) (2010) for Chamber Orchestra

for Ryan Turner

• through this door lies all possibility (2011) for String Orchestra

for David Seaton & the St. Paul's School Chamber Orchestra

• Christmas Prayer (2011) for mixed choir

for Mark Frazier & the South Congregational Church Choir

• three little buddha songs (2012) for voice and piano

to Jeanne Ann Whittington

1. Staying (Judyth Collin)

2. Knowing (Susan Griffin)

3. Nothing (Peter Levitt)

• Procession on "Thaxted" (2012) for Brass Quintet

for the students of St. Paul's School

• Canterbury Shake (2013) for violin, bassoon and piano

for the Encounters Trio

• The Love That Lives (2013) for mixed choir

to Michael Spencer

• O Christmas T(h)ree (2013) for three women’s voices.

for Trillium: Peggo Horstman Hodes, Hannah Schramm Murray & Jane Berlin Pauley

• Five Blackbirds (2013-14) reflections on Wallace Stevens for two clarinets

for Stephanie Ratté Jenkins

• arr. L'Horloge de Flore (Jean Francaix) (2014) for Woodwind Quintet and piano

for Stephanie Burke

• Christmas, Here (2014)

for the Fletcher Holiday card, 2014

• arr. Tarantella A. Pieczonka (2014)

for Elliot Marco & the New Hampshire Philharmonic String Quartet

• This Song (2015) for mixed choir, poem of Rabindinath Tagore

• An American in BodhGaya (2015) for woodwind quartet

for The Infinities Ensemble

Manjushri mows the lawn

Mahakasyapa arranges the flowers

Avalokiteshvara’s Taxi

• Lao Tzu dances in the breeze above (2016) for string quartet

• the simple sum of heart plus heart (2018) for piano trio

• The Call (2019) for mixed choir and organ

commissioned by Sue Hoaglund, in memory of Dennis P. Schmidt

• O Christmas T(h)ree (2019) for three women’s voices

Away in a manger

• Nocturne (2020) for solo piano

for Bob Hurwitz

• Suite Vernaculai re (2023) for clarinet & piano

for Stephanie Ratté Jenkins

3. Astor asks Darius to Dance

5. Saturday Mornings

• Suite Vernaculai re (2023) for chamber orchestra

3. Astor asks Darius to Dance

5. Saturday Mornings

• Pentagonal Notions (2024) for clarinet duet

for Lars & Stephanie

To hear works by some of waf's composition students, click here .