Active/Upcoming Projects

Looking for a way to support my work without the full price of a standalone commission? If you do not want to lead a consortium but would instead like to be a member, this is where you’ll find projects you can sign on to. Important note: you do not need to be a performer or a musician at all to join a consortium of mine! There is no performance requirement for consortium members in my contracts, so if you want to support my work and facilitate my artmaking with no additional strings attached, this is the single best way to do so.

Coming summer/fall 2027: the consortium for my first trumpet concerto.

Currently, I’m accepting proposals for consortia on the following timelines: trumpet solo/small trumpet-focused chamber works with 2028 delivery, all other instrumentations (including other chamber groups) with 2027 delivery or later. If you’d like to lead one, please drop me a line using the email address on my Contact page! (Although I’m not tenure-track anywhere myself, I’ve heard that these can be decent additions to tenure files for those who are interested in that kind of thing.)

Quick table of contents:
Back to active/upcoming projects. 1. About My Consortium Projects. 2. Educational Benefits and Student Inclusion. 3. Joining a Consortium. 4. Leading a Consortium. 4a. What information do I need to include in the initial email? 4b. What should I have thought about before our initial meeting? (This section contains several subheadings.) 4c. Will I have to sign a contract? 4d. How does the payment schedule work? 4e. Are revisions allowed? 5. Converting a Commission Proposal to a Consortium.

About My Consortium Projects

I’m pleased to offer consortium options for pieces or instrumentations I am very interested in adding to my catalogue. Consortia are a great choice for folks who want to get in on the ground floor of a new piece but don’t have the funds to front a commission singlehandedly. Generally, consortium members sign onto a project I’ve already started or proposed, resulting in a little more structural rigidity than would typically exist in a traditional commission process. That means that when you sign on, you already have a pretty good idea of what the end result will be and when it’ll arrive, bypassing a lot of those initial questions you’d find in a commission. As a general rule, consortia involve at least six months of lead time; these are not good projects for someone looking for a quick turnaround!

An ideal consortium piece, for me, falls into one of two categories: for one to two instruments, with or without piano/fixed media accompaniment, OR for standardized ensembles, like brass/wind/reed quintet, wind ensemble, orchestra, same-instrument chamber groups (trombone choir, trumpet ensemble, etc.), or choir. I prioritize instrumentations that are likely to be widely performed, with durations usually between six and twenty minutes. Consortia are also a chance for me to stretch my chops a little and dive back into subject matter I care deeply about, so if you’ve been looking for a Letters piece for your instrument (or LETTING GO, or something queer, or…), a consortium would be a great place to put that forward.

My consortia generally offer one year of exclusivity, during which no one besides the consortium members and myself can perform the piece. Score sales often start one month before the end of exclusivity, but until the year is up, the piece can only be purchased by performers/directors who have specified a performance date outside of that one-year window. Applicable exclusivity dates will be clearly marked in the contract you sign when you join the consortium.

Ultimately, I hope to use consortia to offer a method by which many people can support my work at a lower individual cost, ideally in a way that leaves room for developing relationships and strengthening bonds between folks who might not otherwise be involved in a commission process together. Keep reading for more information, or scroll back to the top to see any active consortia I’ve got running.

Educational Benefits and Student Inclusion

Most of my past consortia and all consortium projects moving forward also include an initiative to facilitate pedagogical use and student engagement with the work from day 1. All performer members who teach the instrument(s) the piece is written for may sponsor one student at no extra cost—I will scholarship that student onto the consortium for free. I always encourage teachers to nominate a student who would be thrilled to be part of that specific project, ESPECIALLY any student who would otherwise be unable to join any consortium due to lack of funds. (This second part applies to many if not most students, but I put it forward so educators are actively thinking about which students would have extreme difficulty creating this kind of opportunity for themselves.)

In the event that a teacher is unable to nominate a current student due to institutional censorship, I will offer that teacher the opportunity to instead nominate a current student or other pre-/emerging professional performer who they wish to include.

Student performers are the future of our field. Including them in these projects is non-negotiable for me.

Joining a Consortium

If you want to join an existing consortium, you may do so at any time after the consortium goes live up until the payment deadline (usually a few days before scores are delivered to members). I do on occasion deliver pieces early, so I encourage you to sign up earlier rather than later. (You don’t have to pay immediately after signup—just by the deadline.) If you’d like to support my work but aren’t a performer yourself (or don’t have an ensemble to play the thing, etc.) and you want to facilitate creation more directly than through my Patreon, joining a consortium is a great chance to do that! Just let me know that’s your plan; you’ll be under no obligation to perform the piece if you don’t have the forces to do so.

Leading a Consortium

If you’re interested in leading a consortium, expect to be the primary recruiter. Your enthusiasm for the project is so important! You’ll be responsible for sharing general information about the project (which I’ll provide to you), getting others on board, and generally hyping things up. In return, you’ll have the option of giving the world premiere of the new piece if it’s within an agreed-upon length of time after delivery (some percentage of the exclusivity window). I’ll also offer you two virtual rehearsal visits as part of your consortium buy-in (at no additional charge), whereas other consortium members will be eligible for up to one. You alone will have first right of refusal (for one to two years depending on the project), should you be interested in making a professional recording of the piece. Typically I look for a minimum of ten commissioners per consortium, so if you have nine excited friends or colleagues, you’re already in good shape!

What information do I need to include in the initial email?

When you send me an email expressing interest in leading a consortium, that email should include: your instrument (for a solo/small chamber consortium) or ensemble (for an ensemble consortium), your ideal world premiere date, and your budget for your own contribution to the work’s funding. After I have received this information, if I think I may have (or may want to develop) a compatible project, I will send you a consortium lead questionnaire. This document is to get you thinking in depth about goals for the work that may go beyond what we typically discuss together. If you are uncomfortable answering any of the questions in writing, you can leave them blank or write “N/A.” Please return it to me after filling it out! Once I’ve received this, our next step is having a call to discuss your proposal and any ideas I have for pieces which may be aligned with your goals.

What should I have thought about before our initial meeting?

My consortia are most often projects I have strong personal investment in, and are more rigid than standalone commissions that may be tailored to a single performer. I recommend considering the following questions:

Do you have specific ideas about the kind of subject matter you’d like to tackle together?

I am happy to listen to all the ideas you may have about subject matter and work together to find a path forward that you’re excited about, but for consortia, I only accept projects whose subject matters I am also extremely excited about. Something I recommend all consortium leads ask themselves is: if I take the subject matter in a different direction than you were expecting, will you be unhappy? (As an example, if you give me a prompt like “a piece about death” expecting a funeral-vibes piece and I instead write an angry work about necropolitics, you might be a little taken aback.) If there are topics within your area of interest that you DON’T want to explore (for any reason), that’s really important for me to know!

You may also realize you have more nuanced ideas about our identified subject matter partway through the consortium. Due to the specifics that need to be set in stone before we start recruiting (and the specific materials we use in recruitment, such as draft program notes or information about instrumentation and techniques), I am not always able to adapt concept or execution. However, if this happens, please let me know ASAP. Although it may feel awkward or scary to bring this up, the sooner we can start that conversation, the more likely it is that we can adapt our plan. And if we can’t make all the alterations you have in mind, I may be able to reframe or add detail that still improves your experience with the piece. (See the section below on revisions for more detail regarding feasibility.)

One example of a commission that had a very successful mid-process pivot is Afterlives, which I wrote in 2025 for trumpeter Louie Eckhardt. Our original concept had been a very general look at grief, but during the year-plus between our initial meeting and final delivery, we substantially changed course and decided to explore how any kind of rebuilding after a deep loss is inherently informed by that loss. We also chose to dedicate the work in honor of his late mother. That choice—and Louie’s open, proactive communication with me about his artistic goals for the piece—took our collaboration from solid to amazing. I came out of the experience having grown as an artist, Louie came out of it with a custom-tailored piece that he loved so much it is the title track of his forthcoming album, and we both found a great new friend in each other!

Are there notation styles, techniques, accessories, or actions you’d like to avoid?

This helps me narrow my focus and will affect how we market the consortium.

Are there specific sonic qualities you’d like to include?

If you have strong feelings about what you are interested in pursuing together, being specific about types of sound (timbre, feel, fast/slow, etc.) helps me immensely.

Some people come to me for a collaboration and tell me they like a specific work in my existing catalog, but I want to issue a word of caution. I am not a mind reader, and I cannot intuit the exact things you may enjoy about my existing work unless you tell me what they are—and what you’d like to include in our collaboration. For example, many consortium leads since 2022 have used go to the garden as their point of comparison. However, there are many choices I made in that work prior to even pitching the consortium that a performer might be drawn to: the scaling difficulty, the range constraints of each version, the ossia options, the field recordings I used in the fixed media, the colors of noise I used in the fixed media, the presence of drones throughout much of the piece, the use of narration to guide listeners through a story, the text of the narration itself, the pitch centers it uses, the choice of mute, the ratio of lyrical to technical passages, the jury-friendly length, any of the specific extended techniques I incorporated, etc. Many of these decisions were plans I brought into the proposal stage, and those main pillars (the modularity, the scaling difficulty, and the sketch of the story) fed the development of many of the finer points. In my experience, collaborators who come in with two to four concrete goals for the work and flexibility on other options tend to have the best time.

Throughout my composing life so far, I have found that attempting to make lightning strike twice in the same way is not a challenge I particularly enjoy—nor do I think it results in my best work. While I do revisit major concepts again and again in my writing, the differences in framing, orchestration, and my personal composing goals are what make those compelling and fruitful endeavors. As such, I usually do not accept projects that I feel are just requesting that I write another version of something I’ve already composed. But there are exceptions to pretty much everything, so please don’t feel deterred from asking about your ideas—if I’m not the right person for the job, I may be able to refer you to another composer who is!

Where and when do you plan to perform/present this piece?

I do write performance clauses into my contracts—when you lead a consortium with me, part of what I get from you is a high-quality world premiere performance of the work, and a recording of that performance (or a good rehearsal run) so I can market the piece after exclusivity. I write this into my contracts. If you have no active plans to perform the work, and/or if you plan to make a commercial recording, those are important things to tell me in our initial meeting. If you already have concrete plans to perform the work multiple times during exclusivity, please let me know that too!

Beyond this, though, site-specific details for your world premiere performance are also valuable information. For instance, if you are specifically looking for a piece that will lend itself to outdoor performances, that would affect how we market and recruit for the consortium.

(If you are planning to professionally record the finished work, just bear in mind that when we get to that point, we will also negotiate a recording licensing fee. This happens after the commission process is complete but before you record the work. Feel free to ask me for a ballpark number in our commission meeting, so you can plan accordingly and adjust your commission budget if necessary!)

When do you want to receive the finished work to begin practicing/rehearsals?

If it’s helpful to you, I sometimes break this into two dates: an ideal, in-a-perfect-world receipt date, and an “I need this no later than” date. Often we can find some due date between the two, and whenever possible, I’ll give you that ideal deadline. But for pieces with a tight turnaround time or that I’m working into my schedule between existing commitments, earlier delivery dates aren’t always possible.

What is your budget?

This can easily be a nerve-wracking question, but I don’t want to make it stressful! My standard arrangement with consortium leads is that their contribution is entirely dictated by the amount of money other members contribute. In our contact, I will clearly lay out my minimum quote for the work—the lowest amount of money I will accept for my labor. If we were to have zero members, you would pay the full amount of my minimum quote. However, if we are able to recruit enough performers to meet or exceed my minimum quote, I waive your fee. This is the best way I can think of to express my gratitude to voracious consortium leads who do an excellent job recruiting.

If you have (or might have) access to institutional funding—whether you are a student or an employee of an institution—that is a great thing to bring up in our initial meeting. Some schools have grant funding for students to enact special projects, so if you are a student studying music and our collaboration will be used on a recital or as part of another major school milestone, it is worth looking into! (Note: if you bring institutional funding to the table, and we set our goals for additional members to meet my quote after your funding is applied, that money will still be due. As an example, if I quote $2,000 for a piece and you have a grant for $1,000, we might say, “okay, we want to get 20 more people at $50 each.” If we succeed at that, the grant money still makes its way to me—but nothing further comes out of your pocket.)

If there is a maximum dollar amount that you can contribute, that is also extremely important information to bring to our initial meeting. In those situations, it will be very important that we work out how many participants we need to meet my minimum quote and establish a plan for filling those slots.

Is this piece going to be presented as part of a particular project?

This can be a practical matter, like “it’s going [on my senior recital/in my tenure file/etc.],” or an artistic one, like “I’m building an hour-long concert about the plight of bees.” Or both! But “no” is okay, too.

Will I have to sign a contract?

Yes. I contract all my funded works, including both commissions and consortia. The contract is the document that governs our collaboration and ensures we’re both clear on timelines and parameters. While our surrounding conversations shape the contract, and I do my best to ensure that it accurately reflects what we’ve discussed and negotiated, I encourage you to read it carefully before signing and let me know if anything needs to be changed, added, removed, or negotiated further! Ultimately, the contract reflects our shared understanding of what the final work should be based on, and in the event we have questions or misaligned expectations further down the road, we will go back to the contract and use it as our guide.

How does the payment schedule work?

Payment schedules for consortium leads are very different from my commission schedules. Typically, I hold off on requesting payment from the consortium lead until after the payment deadline for consortium members. Once all member contributions are received, we will calculate any remaining fees, and you’ll have until the end of exclusivity to pay it off. (Of course, if we fill, you’ve got nothing to pay me at the end!)

I do write a late fee into my contracts for payments not made by the deadlines we’ve negotiated together, so please be upfront with me about what payment timelines will be most workable for you!

Are revisions allowed?

Because a consortium is not a work specifically tailored to one commissioner, and because we market a consortium to members using pretty specific language and information about the work’s construction, my options for revisions are a bit more limited when it comes to consortia. However, I try to be as accommodating as I can. I urgently prioritize revising any passages that would cause pain or negatively affect performers’ health and wellbeing beyond normal performance expectations due to technical or kinesthetic demands, either by completely altering the passage or providing multiple options so all future performers can pick what works best for them. I also will find workarounds if I’ve inadvertently written something impossible. Textual clarifications (things like adding dynamics or articulations to make intentions obvious, or altering/adding to performance notes to more completely explain something) are also often workable in some capacity. In all cases, it is vital that I understand both why the revision request is being made and what specifically would be a preferred revision. Without these pieces of information, I am unable to adequately address concerns or propose solutions.

However, some revision requests would require functionally re-composing the piece, which drastically expands the scope of my work past what we negotiated in our contract. My composing is very motivically-informed, and when a small handful of ideas develop into an entire work, a request that may seem simple (like “can you add a section that [does something substantially different than existing material]”) is not a revision; it is a recomposition request. While I may accommodate these as time allows (as long as the envisioned change still fits within the larger structures I’ve created), I am not always able to due to the additional performance considerations consortia entail.

I also do not allow vetoes of entire movements or works.

Converting a Commission Proposal to a Consortium

Sometimes, performers who originally planned for a standalone commission decide (for any number of reasons) to convert the project into a consortium. If you are interested in converting a planned commission with me into a consortium, please read this carefully. Because I specifically target consortia that are going to appeal to a wide audience, not every commission proposal is appropriate for a consortium. I do my best work on consortium projects when I am not at all worried about whether or not we are going to meet our minimum sign-ups, so consider the performers in your network and how you might present the project in a way they are excited to sign on to. If we can’t identify enough (paying) performers to fill the consortium, it will be difficult to greenlight the project!

Another important thing I encourage folks to consider when converting a commission to a consortium is price point. It is important to me that we keep buy-ins as low as possible while still putting us in a good position to meet my minimum rate for the work. I do not enjoy the idea of charging $100+ per performer member for a solo or small chamber work, and if your anticipated number of interested performers would require a significant investment from each one, I may turn down the project. This can be addressed a number of ways: you as the consortium lead can commit to paying a portion of my rate that’s large enough to keep other buy-ins low, you can obtain grant funding to cover a portion of the fee, etc.

While the shared vision we have developed in the original commission process will remain a cornerstone of the project, there are a number of different logistical and practical considerations I have to account for when writing a piece that will immediately be distributed to a large group of performers with different skills and limitations. I will do my best to honor as many of your preferences as possible, but due to the nature of their making, I cannot write consortium works that are guaranteed to be specifically tailored to a single performer.

Past Projects

Echoes for cornet and piano (2025)

Consortium lead: Jen Oliverio.

Consortium closed. Purchase a copy of Echoes here. This six-minute work for solo cornet with piano accompaniment marks my first foray into writing for the trumpet’s conical-bore cousin! I am humbled and honored to be taking this on alongside Jen Oliverio, one of my real-life brass heroes. This consortium will focus on themes of growth, childlike wonder, and self-love. Expect delivery by August 31, 2025. Click here to read more about the Echoes consortium.

KENOCHORIC for brass quintet (2023)

Consortium lead: Matt Onstad.

Consortium closed. Purchase a copy of KENOCHORIC here. This piece is a collection of five movements with a duration of roughly 20 minutes if all movements are performed. At a time where self-determination in all its forms is increasingly under threat, it’s more important than ever that we make the effort to dive deep within ourselves and figure out who we want to be—even if the traits and associations that ring true don’t fit neatly into any of the boxes we’re offered. KENOCHORIC explores these ideas and others through the brass quintet, asking performers to venture beyond traditional idioms and augment their existing sound through well-prepared extended techniques. Rather than exhibiting these skills in exposed solos, this work will focus on blend (or, occasionally, an intentional lack thereof) and ensemble coordination while inviting each individual member to play with means of sound production that may not always be familiar. For complete details and additional thoughts from Eris, click here.

neverending rain for grade 2.5 wind ensemble (2022)—bonus work, (Calm) Before the Storm for grade 2-2.5 wind ensemble (2022)

Consortium closed. Purchase a copy of neverending rain here. Purchase a copy of (Calm) Before the Storm here. neverending rain is a grade 2-2.5 wind ensemble work of four minutes in length that explores the ups and downs of re-negotiating friendships as each of us learns about our own identity. The piece is a ballad, and all non-pitched percussion in the piece can be played either on the listed instruments or using found percussion whose timbre or performance method supports the musical moment at hand (suggestions and additional guidance are provided). Additionally, wind players across the ensemble will have the opportunity to contribute to the overall soundscape through occasional calls for air noises or similar ambient sounds made using their instruments and/or surroundings. (To facilitate smooth rehearsals for groups of all ages, directors will be able to either direct performers toward specific sounds or open the floor for experimentation.) A flex band arrangement is also available. Ideally, neverending rain will provide an opportunity to engage with performers about how we can (and sometimes do) frame sound as music while allowing directors to control the level of chaos across the group.

Tier 2 consortium members also received wind ensemble and flex band orchestrations of (Calm) Before the Storm (anticipated grade 2, run time approx. 2’), from my 2015 trumpet trio RPM. Though (Calm) was written much earlier in my career, it is the sister piece to neverending rain, and directors may choose to program the two ballads on the same program, on multiple concerts across the same season, or completely independently of each other. Both works are now available for purchase and public performance. Learn more about the neverending rain consortium on my blog.

go to the garden for trumpet and fixed media (2022)

Consortium lead: Ashley Killam.

Consortium closed. Purchase a copy of go to the garden here, now available for multiple brass instrumentations. The piece runs approx. 3′, 6′, and 9′ in three different versions, all of which are provided upon purchase. Each longer version builds on the material introduced in its shorter counterpart(s), continuing the story and perspective presented in the playback while also gradually scaling up in difficulty. (The complete piece should be attainable for most collegiate-level players and up, though I believe I’ve kept it within reach for ambitious high schoolers.) The content of the piece is centered on isolation, rest, grief, and safety, particularly given how difficult COVID-19 has made many of those things. For more about the piece and this consortium process, read a robust overview on my blog.