1. As the subject of today’s talk is the metaphor, I shall begin by a metaphor.
2. If you do not understand them, you may console yourselves by thinking that I do not understand them either.
3. What we feel is his wish to be able to see his beloved from many points at once.

Tema Watstein, violins. Jorge Luis Borges, text.

The Center for Creative Work at The Honors College produced Sophocles’ Electra in a new translation by John Harvey and Richard Armstrong, and with choreography by Katelyn Halpern. I contributed a score for harmonium, harp, recorder, percussion and electronics, working closely with two terrific improvisers, Michelle Yom and Lance Higdon. Photos

I wrote Games in Pairs for the terrific Ensemble ACJW, who premiered it in February at Le Poisson Rouge. In two parts: 1. Ardor/Torpor 2. Languor/Dolor (Rapture).

Khastakhumar and Bibinagar, a Cupid and Psyche-type story from Afghanistan, is the basis for this new cycle of songs for the Alcestis band: Doug Balliett, Mollie Marcuson, myself, and singer Alison Fletcher. We have performed it, paired with Doug’s terrific Alcestis, in living rooms across Texas. Listen, Score/Lyrics/Media

I produced this hip hop retelling of the Rake’s Progress with rapping bassoonist Brad Balliett. The music draws from our chamber music as well as found sounds and quotations. Stream or download the whole EP at oraclehysterical.com

I contributed a tape part to a realization of Stockhausen’s Tierkreis for the Ensemble ACJW’s series at LPR. The New York Times called it “exhilarating.”

I rewrote Bob Dylan’s great song Maggie’s Farm for the Sissy-Eared Mollycoddles December 2009 concert at Heaven Gallery in Chicago.

An hour of dramatic music, in contrasting styles, for oboe, clarinet, cello, harmonium, piano and harp, written to accompany a play of the same name.

The Houston Chronicle: “Elliot Cole’s original score proves an unqualified success.” The Houston Press: “Elliot Cole’s astonishingly apt music, played live, is like listening to a quartet scored by Edgar Allan Poe. It’s the evening’s best surprise.”

This miniature was part of Xenia Pestova’s 30 Second Piano Project, performed in Montreal in June, 2009.

A set of reinvented Beatles songs for Harp, Bass, Ukulele, Harmonium and Two Voices.

I worked with Brad and Doug Balliett to write a cycle based on Stockhausen’s Tierkreis melodies, which we performed in our house on Bonnie Brae. Recordings are of Taurus and Cancer.

0/1 was created in Max/MSP/Jitter, and is based on Conways’ Game of Life. I wrote a set of patches that turns each live cell into a tone, pitched according to the y axis and spatialized (in four channels) according to location. It can be pre-programmed or played via MIDI keyboard. 0/1 also existed as an interactive, camera controlled installation. Watch video.

A long, quiet walk through Parable of the Sower for double string quartet and piano.

For violin and piano, performed by Tema Watstein and Jasmine Hatem.

Endgame Study follows a simple logic: a continuous restriction of possibilities, with a parallel constriction of musical space. As the funnel gradually tightens, we hear a systematic tour of musical possibility as though slowly turning a radio dial, suggesting, in broad strokes, the unity of the stylistic domain.