composer. conductor. performer. improviser.
Boston-based sound artist aimed at the experimental combination of ecology, environmental advocacy, and study of the natural world with composition and improvisation as a means for intrinsic organicism.
Intro
“My calling to music comes from a place of longing and yearning for a deeper, richer connection to the soil on which we stand. Often I imagine the soles of my feet sprouting roots into the Earth tying myself to the ground.”
Learn more about Caleb.
Current Projects
Compositions
Salt for clarinet, trumpet (self), and cello
is. (2024) for sinfonietta (expanded and elongated version of is. (2022) originally premiered in Spring 2023)
Agua Viva (working title) for trumpet (self) and electronics
Other
ARC for the Spatialized Acoustical Resonance Organ (SpARO) - self made
Sound sculpture collaboration with Lys Cianci.
what i’m up to…
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underSCORE
June 21st and 22nd
Time, location TBD
A celebration of queer music and musicians. Featuring all queer performers and composers.
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International Summer Academy for Composition of the GMPU
August 10th - 16th
Featuring a premier TBA
Ossiach, Austria
2024
New Video Recordings
July
Check out my most recently videod pieces, “I’ll be waiting..” (2024) for solo horn and electronics, premiered by Alana Knowles at the Eastman School of Music, and Skin (2023) for solo percussion, premiered by Emily Salgado at the Summer Institute for Contemporary Performance Practice (SICPP)!
“I’ll be waiting...” in its essence is an expression grief and a representation of the process of overcoming the loss of a loved one. Dedicated to the memory of my close family friends, Evelyn and Byron Story, this piece uses text derived from the 1950’s song “Far Side Banks of Jordan” written by Johnny Cash, of which was their love song. Later on, text from Psalm 139 is used to represent a deep connection to southern spirituality in relation to grief, loss, and meaning of life.
The piece opens with the performer entering the from off stage as the electronics begin, creating an atmosphere of suspense and uncertainty making way for spirals of shock and exasperation. This later reveals to an inner revelation of discomfort and pain. However, this pain is short lived as the echo of memory begins to carve a path to acceptance and love found in southern spirituality.
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Skin explores a delicate sound world which seeks to create a tender exposition of the physicality of performance and engagement with space. Employing techniques which accentuate the tactile nature of percussion, skin seeks to engage in the delicate relationship between performer and physical space.
about
2023
New Recordings
June
Give a listen to my piece, “i know the story of a rose.” written for JACK Quartet for New Music on the Point (NMOP) 2023! Many, many thanks to JACK for their incredible performance.
about
“i know the story of a rose.” is part of a series of works inspired by Clarice Lispector’s novella Agua Viva. This work in particular draws its musical nature from the intimate and delicate relationship found in the excerpt below:
“I know the story of a rose. Does it seem strange to you to speak of a rose when I am talking about animals? But it acted in a way that recalls the animal mysteries. Every two days I would buy a rose and place it in water in a vase made specially narrow to hold the long stem of a single flower. Every two days the rose would wilt and I would exchange it for another. Until one certain rose. It was rose-colored without coloring or grafting just naturally of the most vivid rose color. Its beauty expanded the heart by great breadths. It seemed so proud of the turgescence of its wide open corolla and of its own petals that its haughtiness held it almost erect. Because it was not completely erect: with graciousness it bent over its stem which was fine and fragile. An intimate relationship intensely developed between me and the flower: I admired her and she seemed to feel admired. And she became so glorious in her apparition and was observed with such love that days went by and she did not wilt: her corolla remained wide open and swollen, fresh as a newborn flower. She lasted in beauty and life an entire week. Only then did she start to show signs of some fatigue. Then she died. It was with reluctance that I replaced her. And I never forgot her. The strange thing is that my maid asked me once out of the blue: “and that rose?” I didn’t ask which one. I knew. That rose that lived from love given at length was remembered because the woman had seen how I looked at the flower and transmitted to her the waves of my energy. She had blindly intuited that something had gone on between me and the rose. That rose-made me want to call it ‘Jewel of my life;’ because I often give things names-had so much instinct by nature that I and she had been able to live each other profoundly, as only can happen between beast and man.”
2023
Improvisation Recordings
April
Finally got around to uploading some improvisation from the past few months! Check out some solo and duo recordings featuring Rat Chasm, with my dear friend and fellow composer Marie Carroll!
