The greatest composition is not the carefully and thoughtfully prepared score. The powerful components

of music like melody, harmony and rhythm and the art and craft of performing those elements is not

in itself, the greatest music. To me, the greatest composition is our life, who we are, what we care about.

I am driven internally to learn, grow, gain knowledge and experience in this art. If all the notes on a page

do not move something in me, then all those notes, neatly notated with not move the performers and

certainly not move an audience. In many ways trying to explain how creativity works with in us is beyond

the utility of words. Creative people are so very complex. A painter sees a certain quality of light, a writer

explores the human condition, a musician finds a way to carry meaning and aspects for which there are no

words. Music is all symbols and abstract concepts. Composers paint with sound these abstract concepts and

the listener has to actively listen and decipher what the music means.

As a film composer, my main job was to create music that acts as a support to the film, to its characters,

story-lines and visual language. The music needs to communicate instantly the emotions, the feelings

of that scene, that charater, that moment. The film composer must be aware of the audience and know

how to carry that feeling through music. That specific art and craft of communication with this abstract

medium called music is my forte. I bring that high level of communication to my concert works. I fuse

together diverse ideas and concepts which are built into the scores as well as the art and craft, through

many decades of experience to create music that hopefully matters and has meaning for an audience.

I could not have stayed on this creative journey this long without the love and support of my family, friends

and the many wonderful and talented musicains I have had the joy and honor to work with over the years.

I guess I will put my pencil down and not compose at some point, but as long as I am compelled and driven

to make new music, to see what might be created I will wake up see the sky and then sit down at my piano

and compose away. I can’t really explain it, but I hope the music does show that this human created some

wonderful music. Great music grows out of all that. It is not a formula or an app. The greatest composition is

who we are.