My path into musical composition was not a direct one. I was always musically inclined; my parents shared that love, though neither pursued music professionally. From an early age I was enrolled in music schools, and I later attended the Conservatorio Rimsky-Korsakov as a founding student.
Founded by family friend and pianist Reynaldo Cañizares, the Conservatorio was named in honor of the N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov Saint Petersburg State Conservatory in Russia, where Cañizares completed his studies under the legendary pianist Sviatoslav Richter. Instruction there came from faculty who had taught at or graduated from the Moscow Conservatory, along with master classes from visiting performers and pedagogues. I began my formal studies in theory, voice, and early music there, studying theory, voice, and Baroque flûte à bec. Although I have always loved music deeply, I was not a traditional student. My primary focus was classical performance, but I also wanted to write my own music.
I was drawn to developments outside the classical mainstream, including the aural soundscapes of Irish singer-composer Enya, whose work was often dismissed at the time. The music of Jean-Jacques Perrey and other electronic and experimental composers also featured prominently in my listening.
Against the more traditional values of the Russian pedagogical school, I was something of an odd duck. After completing my studies at the Conservatorio, I moved to North Carolina to pursue a bachelor’s degree, continuing my vocal training alongside a degree in art. I also continued Baroque, Renaissance, and Medieval studies during this period. Focused primarily on performance, I composed intermittently but rarely shared my work. I later moved to Colorado to earn a master’s degree in vocal performance at Colorado State University under the instruction of Doctor John Seesholtz.
Since 2008, I have been a student of soprano Martile Rowland. For most of my professional music career, I have focused on the performance aspect, but kept a good amount of my own creative output to myself.
At the risk of sounding cliché— I turned 40.
Much is said about the energy of youth; less about the clarity that comes with experience. Although ageism remains widespread in the opera industry, I am at the height of my powers. I am singing better than I have in the past, and I am composing better as well.
More importantly, I stopped caring.
More accurately, I stopped caring about certain opinions—particularly how my work would be received or what was deemed “appropriate” within industry optics.
Opera singers, perhaps more than any other classical sub-discipline, are subject to an unspoken threshold of respectability. A certain kind of sanctioned weirdness is acceptable—sometimes even extreme—so long as it is validated by the right institutions or academic authorities. Step outside that boundary, and you start dipping your toes into being 'too weird' and 'illegitimate.'
This expectation is rarely stated outright during training, but it is always present, like infrasound. With distance and experience, it became clear to me how normative, and ultimately how silly, this rigidity is.Art is capable of moving us profoundly, yet its mechanics are often —usually— absurd.
A soprano pausing all dramatic action to sing Vissi d’Arte may bring an audience to tears, while simultaneously being someone producing carefully controlled screams in pitch. A masterpiece painting is pigment crushed from insects, rocks and plants smeared onto cloth. Stripped of legend, art is ridiculous and, yet, still powerful on a primal level.
If these ridiculous acts can move us to tears or joy, by what metric does anyone get to decide which forms of absurdity are legitimate and which are not?
That is the why and wherefore of the Cheshire Cat. I am here to do things that may or may not move you. What I will not do is be something I am not for anyone’s comfort. Those who spend too much time worrying about “freaking out the normies” tend to create little that speaks to anyone at all, being far more concerned with not being who they actually are.
My aim as a composer is the same as my aim as an artist and singer: to bring what exists in my mind into the world. I have always been inspired by stories and fictional worlds, both my own and those of other creators. I am equally interested in the idioms of instrumental music and the possibilities of vocal music. Here, you will see my works in progress, completed works, the albums and collections they belong to, and notes on their creation. I create independent works, and I am also interested in scoring for games, collaborative projects, and private commissions.
Welcome to the Cheshire Cat’s den.
