Azwaj (2018) – ca. 8' 

​flute, clarinet in B-flat, violin, violoncello, piano, and percussion
Note: The perusal score linked below uses a much simpler time signature scheme than what is shown in the score follower video. The music is exactly the same in both versions. When you purchase the score and parts, you will receive the version you see in the perusal score, unless otherwise specified.
Commissioned by the Utah Arts Festival  
Premiere performance
Sinfonia Salt Lake conducted by Robert Baldwin in Salt Lake City, UT (June 23, 2018)
PROGRAM NOTE
Azwaj, or “pairs” in Arabic, is an energetic, rhythmically charged depiction of three pairs of dissimilar instruments playing similar dance-like material together. In this work, these conjoined pairs are the flute and violin, clarinet and cello, and percussion and piano. The woodwinds and strings are mostly confined to roving scales based on the maqamat (Arab modes), which contain an abundant use of “quarter-tones,” the pitches that lie halfway between the“black” and “white” keys. The pairing of the percussion and piano makes use of a specific preparation involving tambourine cymbals. These small cymbals, when removed from their normal apparatus as part of the tambourine, are used to create entirely different, unusual sounds when employed in the context of this ensemble.