Compositions
“I create music to tell human stories and foster authentic connection. In a rapidly changing world, I believe music remains a powerful expression of our shared experiences, emotions, and humanity.”
Saxophone Quartet Consortium
Deadline to Join - May 31, 2026
Anticipated Delivery of the Score to Tier 1 Consortium Members - September 15, 2026
Approximate Difficulty: Collegiate quartets and professional quartets.
Length — 9-12 minutes split into movements.
When I was at the 2026 North American Saxophone Alliance conference, I was blown away by the level of musicmaking. One of the most inspiring things was taking my students to experience their first NASA biennial conference. They marveled as they absorbed lectures, took in brilliant performances, and tried all the fancy gear in the exhibit hall.
One thing that struck me was taking them out to a Korean restaurant for the first time. As they ordered dishes that they had never tried before, they jumped right in to try them. It was whimsical and light, and I want to dedicate this piece to exploring this experience.
Like the book Crying in H-Mart by Michelle Zauner, I feel that food is one way to intimately know a culture. It is also delicious.
Korean food is delicious. It’s savory, spicy, it wakes up the senses. My last piece explored the Korean traditional value of 한 (han)...expressing deep sorrow, even resentment. This piece will showcase another value– 흥 (heung). Heung symbolizes our Korean spirit of resilience. These expressive qualities are very similar to those found in jazz, so while I haven’t written anything yet, I can imagine those colors and linguistic elements of the music will play a role–and of course, delicious, traditional Korean cuisine! Overall, I want this piece to capture the spirit of resilience. I hope you’ll join me for this journey into saxophone quartet.
Featured Composition
As the Willow Tree Grows
As the Willow Tree Grows was composed in 2022 for trombonist Jeremy Wilson. In composing this piece, I wanted to capture some of my favorite elements of Jeremy's playing--his lyrical upper register and the compassion in the way he phrases a musical line. In addition, I wanted to evoke a more tender, singing lyricism from the trombone, while staying true to the jazz rhythm and harmonic structures that inspire me as a composer and musician.”
Featured Composition
if only in dreams… for bass trombone and piano
if only in dreams... was written for bass trombonist Adam Graham and pianist Hyekyung Lee. This piece is about music composition being a tool of radical imagination. Since western thought places such heavy emphasis on objectivity, marginalized groups often utilize radical imagination in their art in order to create a future beyond the reality of oppression that we face on a daily basis. This has been more prevalent in the resurgence of anti-Asian racism brought on in the COVID-19 era.
In particular, this work is inspired by that of two artists: writer and poet Franny Choi and artist Jess X. Snow, mostly her murals. In writing this piece, I really wanted to capture this idea of radical imagination in music.
“Other highlights include the Jordan VanHemert compositions "Everything Changes, Everything Stays the Same", a sensitive ballad, and "Autumn Song", a ballad that is masterfully performed by VanHemert and Helen Sung as a duo and moves the listener to tears. 5 Stars”
Michael Van Gee - Jazz’N’More (Switzerland)