New York Symphonic Brass

Since 2012, New York Symphonic Brass has performed my composition Lily. The piece originally began as a short piano work written for one of my students as a way to develop her technique. At the time, the piece had no title, so I asked her to name it herself. She chose Lily, after her own name.

Around the same time, I met trumpeter and arranger John Sheppard, founder of New York Symphonic Brass. While studying brass arranging with him, he used Lily as one of my arranging exercises. John liked the piece and decided to program it with the ensemble.

Since then, Lily has become part of New York Symphonic Brass’s annual Christmas concerts at the Fish Church in Stamford, Connecticut, where it is performed alongside traditional holiday music. Their continued performances of the piece have made this one of my longest-running musical collaborations.

My collaboration with John has also extended beyond New York Symphonic Brass. In 2023, we co-arranged America the Beautiful and Lift Every Voice and Sing for the US Open men’s final ceremony at Arthur Ashe Stadium, performed by Will Liverman, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and musicians of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.

In 2026, I am returning to New York Symphonic Brass with a new composition, my first new work for the ensemble in more than a decade.