About

I always loved music, but was particularly inspired to begin performing when I turned 10. I decided I wanted to learn how to play drums and began taking lessons. During this time, I was given more opportunities to refine my craft and get vital experience with real musicians in the field. I had the honor of playing two benefits for the program, Education Through Music, at both the renowned Canal Room and The Cutting Room in NYC. For one performance, my group and I were personally coached by JJ French of the band Twisted Sister. Around age 12, I asked my mom to buy me a guitar. I spent hours locked away, figuring out how the instrument worked. I started by learning my favorite Beatles songs and found that I could figure out these songs in minutes by just listening to them. Learning to play music by ear became my pride and joy, taking requests from friends and playing their favorite songs on the spot. It was this newfound confidence that pushed me to get a bass and a keyboard, and to begin writing my own music.

This is the path that I’ve been down since then. I’ve worked for many years to refine my craft, to never accept anything that is below my taste, and to push myself to write beyond general comfort zones. Once I reached high school, I had written dozens of songs and felt confident enough to bring them to my school band director. On several occasions, I had my original music performed by our concert band, where I was given the opportunity to orchestrate and teach the music. I presented some of these songs in my audition to the Studio Composition program at SUNY Purchase and was one of 21 students accepted into the program.

While at SUNY Purchase, I had the honor of working under several accomplished musicians, producers, and engineers. I also had the pleasure of being in an environment where my peers were just like me. This meant that I couldn’t become complacent with my skills. I had to learn from not only my teachers, but my friends as well. In addition to balancing my work in the conservatory and a full-time job as a preschool teacher, I spent the remainder of my time performing and music directing in schools and local theatre groups, which helped me develop a serious interest in theatre.

During my sophomore year of college, my girlfriend, Faith D’Erasmo, suggested we write a musical together. I wrote the title track for a show she called Spared before we put it on the shelf for a year. We revisited when I decided I wanted to use the first act as my junior recital piece. The musical is not like most rock musicals, as the music does not sacrifice its essence in order to be more “stage-friendly.” It is classic, in-your-face, rock and roll music. It was completed a year later and accepted into Emerging Artists Theatre’s Spring New Works Series received an Off-Broadway debut in March of 2018.

After completing Spared, I realized how much I loved working in a themed environment and began work on a piece called Closure in E Major. The piece is a concept album about a failed relationship and the struggle to overcome it. I feel it is a collection of my strongest work that showcases my abilities to write songs in a pop structure while still maintaining the rock and roll grit. Upon this album’s completion, Faith told me her next idea, a folk musical in the forest.

Numinous is possibly my favorite piece I’ve worked on. Although always a fan of folk music, I hadn’t really considered writing in the genre before. I took the challenge and indulged myself in the world, listening to dozens of artists and hundreds of songs. The writing took off and is currently of the process of being finalized and recorded. I’m so lucky that I get to live through my art every day. I’m always looking for the opportunity to learn and to better myself in my life and in my career.