Trees are some of the most magnificent, impressive beings on our planet. They’ve been around for hundreds of millions of years longer than humans, evolved to thrive in countless environments, and continue to provide us with shade, shelter, food, fuel, medicine, even supporting entire ecosystems. Yet many of us take their gifts for granted, and as forests disappear rapidly around the world, it is more important now than ever to care for them. at the speed of trees, Aaron’s first composition for full orchestra, is an attempt to capture even a fraction of the beauty that a tree holds, and hopefully inspire people to listen to the trees around them more often.

The music reflects a journey, perhaps taken by a particle of water from the soil, from the deepest roots to the highest leaves of a tree. Multiple melodic strands weave together in the dark, getting more and more dense until forming a single trunk and bursting out into the light, represented by a driving staccato pulse in the piano and percussion. Eventually, the rhythmic trunk section gives way to the broad, swooping branches of the crown, and, after a brief moment of tranquility, the full majesty of the tree is within view. After reaching the very top, the orchestral texture gradually thins out leaving only celesta and strings, and we follow the path of a seed gently falling back towards the ground, destined to repeat the cycle and one day become its own tree.

This piece’s subject matter, structure, and title were inspired by the exceptional, sprawling 2018 novel The Overstory by Richard Powers.

A musical/visual showcase of Aaron’s work from the past year. An exploration of death, transition, and rebirth.

Transfiguration - for woodwind quartet and electronics

Mitosis - for piano quintet

Voyage - for mixed chamber ensemble

cloudhuggers is a collaboration recording project between Aaron and Abbi Stewart.

"Losing Time" is a mashup of "Losing My Way" by FKJ and Tom Misch and "Time's a Wastin'" by Erykah Badu.

"Mitosis" is an exploration of the beginning of an organism's life, from the point of the first cell division through its development into a complex being. The piece begins on a single note repeated in the piano, which then multiplies into denser harmony before launching into the main theme of the work. This melody is then repeated in many different ways, alternated with contrasting ideas, until its final iteration where the first four notes of the theme are stretched out and become the harmonic basis for an energetic finale, reflecting the now large-scale, complex organism.

"Voyage" is inspired by a journey in the fantastical, fictional sense of the word. Stories and images from books, movies, and video games all went into the process of creating this piece. The video to the right features the first two movements of this five-movement work: I. Sunlight - the beginning, the exposition, the setting of the scene. II. Nightfall - leaving home for the first time, a sense of unease, the protagonist's first encounter with real danger.