I was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest. In college, I studied various aspects of music: composition, piano performance, audio recording, and music history. I have been composing music for 5 years; as well as studying the piano for nearly as long. My musical influences include Béla Bartók, Aaron Copland, Alberto Ginastera, Francis Poulenc, Silvestre Revueltas, and Igor Stravinsky. I’m drawn to their uses of rhythm, harmony and instrumentation to create sounds unlike those of their predecessors.

Music has been in my life since I was born. I can remember as a young child repeatedly listening to a record of Edvard Grieg’s “Piano Concerto in A minor” and “Peer Gynt” and inventing stories that went along with the music. When I was 5 or 6, my sister was learning to play the piano and I would watch her and then copy what her hands were doing. I would practice over and over until I could play such pieces as “Princess Waltz” and “Für Elise” faster and faster. However, I stopped playing piano for a long time, and didn’t begin to study it seriously until I was 18. What revived my interest in playing piano again was a fascination with piano virtuosity. I love to listen to great artists such as Vladimir Horowitz, György Cziffra, and Martha Argerich.

In the summer of 2005 I was visiting my sister in Budapest. One day we visited the Franz Liszt Museum and I was privileged to be allowed to play on Liszt’s glass piano that he played as a child. That same day we visited the Zoltán Kodály Museum and we caught a glimpse of Kodaly’s wife who had decided to stop by!

Music is at the center of my daily activities whether I am practicing the piano or guitar, listening to my favorite groups, or working on compositions. My dream is to hear my works performed in concert halls. Until then, I write as much music as I can, in many different styles and many different instrumentations.