"Frayed" selected for Vox Novus' Fifteen Minutes of Fame

Having come across this opportunity during the final days of its deadline, I was already working on refining my string writing, making it more idiomatic; exploring harmonics, double stops, strongest registers and the inherent strengths and limitations of each instrument. Through this deep dive, pizzicato glissandos in the higher register have struck me as being particularly humorous – there is something about their strained timbre that creates a comedic but very strained effect.

I'm really excited to hear the piece performed and to hear the other chosen pieces alongside it. Frayed is a brief piece that seeks to depict the unravelling of a rope and its inevitable snapping point.

What is Vox Novus?

Vox Novus is a New York City-based organisation consisting of composers, musicians, and music enthusiasts which presents and supports new music. Vox Novus was founded by Robert Voisey to promote contemporary composers in 2000.

Fifteen Minutes of Fame is 15 one-minute works by different composers written for a specific performer or ensemble. Since the beginning of the project, there have been more than 100 calls for scores for different musicians. the instrumentation ranged from solo piano to concert band including string quartet, saxophone quartet, and woodwind quintet. Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame gives opportunities a vast variety of types of instruments including harp, accordion, clavichord, bass flute, toy piano, oud, hichiriki, taishogoto, and melodica.

For more information about the project, click here.