written for Hub New Music’s Residency at Connecticut Summerfest, in partnership with the Connecticut Science Center

Premiered June 17th, 2025, at Berkman Recital Hall at The Hartt School. Video and audio recording by Kinsmen Sound Studio.

Duration: 6 minutes

Program Notes:

There is always at least one topographic map at the trailhead of a hike, priming you for what is to come on the often treacherous, yet satisfying, journey ahead. For me, composing often feels like making a map, organizing a series of lines and dots for others to follow. The similarity in terminology between topographic maps and music inspired how I thought about composing this piece, and the concept that struck me as being especially musical was this term “Contour Intervals,” a form of measurement that visually represents the steepness between different lines of equal elevation.

The piece alternates between sections called “drawing lines”, which focus on parallel musical lines evolving at various distances from one another, and “evocations”: soloistic interludes, depicting some of my favorite memories of hiking that I found myself dwelling on while looking at familiar topography.Berkman Recital Hall at The Hartt School (200 Bloomfield Ave, West Hartford, CT)