Authors include: Richard Taruskin, Beth Levy, Olly Wilson, László Somfai
2022-2023 Community Music Works, Providence, RI
Improvisation
Group class, ages 9-15
2022-2023 Providence School of Music
Private lessons in violin and piano
Ages 6 to adult
2013-2020 Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, Brooklyn, NY
private instruction in violin, theory, composition
chamber music coaching
ages 5 to adult
online lessons March-June, 2020
2012 PS 230, Brooklyn, NY
beginner violin class, grade 3 after school program
2011-2016. In Performance Music Workshop, Brooklyn, NY
private instruction in violin and piano for ages 5 to adult
2010 Northeastern University, Boston, MA
Music in the U.S.A.
U.S. Sino Pathways Summer Bridge Program
Summer program for students from China entering college in the U.S.
Text: Judith Tick, ed., Music in the USA
2008-2016 PS 89, New York, NY
Beginning and intermediate middle school string orchestra (substitute teacher)
2006-2007 Buck’s Rock Creative Arts Camp, New Milford, CT
Supervised music staff; conducted orchestra, pit band, and jazz band; violin, composition, and piano instructor; organized concerts, wrote program notes, and organized daily schedule for music department. Students ages 11 through 17
2006 Art Institute of Seatte, Seattle, WA
Instruction in beginning and intermediate music theory, classical, jazz and popular music analysis, and music appreciation for college students in the Audio Production program
2006 Community School, White Center, WA
violin class instructor, ages 4-7
2005-2007 Academy of Music Northwest, Bellevue, WA
Coached chamber ensembles, class instructor in composition and theory for advanced middle and high school level music students
2005 Washington Middle School, Seattle, WA
Teaching Assistant; led orchestra string section rehearsals
1996-2001 University of California, Berkeley, Graduate Student Instructor,
Music Appreciation (text: Joseph Kerman,Listen)
Musicianship (text: Robert Ottman, Basic Ear Training Skills)
Introduction to Theory (texts: Peter Spencer, Practice of Harmony; William Duckworth, A Creative Approach to Music Fundamentals)
Orchestra librarian and conductor’s assistant
1993-present Private Violin and Piano Instructor
Students ages 5 through adult
SELECTED RECENT AND UPCOMING PERFORMANCES AND PRESENTATIONS
October 14, 2023 Alphabet City Cycle (violin)
Sheltered Garden (composer)
with Rachel Hannauer, soprano; Nathaniel Baker, piano
University of Rhode Island, University Artist Series
May 4, 2023 Ben Copperhead and the Stringed Serpents, album release (violin)
NUBLU, New York, NY
February 26, 2023 Never Ending Flicker
with Zan Berry, cello, and Matt Crane, percussion
White Electric Coffee, Providence, RI
January 15, 2023 I
mprovised Music Performance
with Stephen Haynes, cornet; Nate McBride, bass; Matt Crane, drums
Speed Shop, Providence, RI
December 10, 2022 Rocket Appliance
with Eric Barber, saxophone and Matt Crane, drums
Warren House of Pizza, Warren, RI
October 20, 2022 Music and Butoh performance
with Vanessa Skantze, Butoh artist; Jesse Canterbury, clarinet; Jim Knodle, trumpet; Greg Campbell and Eveline Müller, percussion
Wayward Music Series, Good Shepherd Center, Seattle, WA
June 25, 2022 Jason Kao Hwang’s Myths of Origin (violin)
Vision Festival, Roulette, Brooklyn, NY
April 3, 2022 Composition concert
with Rachel Hanauer, voice and Yoon Chung, piano
Providence College, Providence, RI
September 24, 2021 Solo violin performance
IBeam, Brooklyn, NY
June 24, 2021 UCI – Un Dia Cambio La Historia
video performance for installation by artist Damian Toro
Toro Art Studio, Quito, Ecuador
September 28, 2020 Virtual Lecture on my recent composition and performance activity
Composition Seminar
Tufts University, Medford, MA
August 1, 2020Me, Myself and Eye
online solo performance to artwork by Grady Swafford
hosted by Connection Works Inc., Brooklyn, NY
(violin, improvisation)
July 13, 2020 “Corona Etude: A New York City Busker Returns to Composition”
Article about my recent performance and composition activity published on violinist.com
February 26, 2020 The Thursday Experiment
solo violin performance
Gateway City Arts
Holyoke, MA
(violin, improvisation)
December 15, 2019 Me, Myself and Eye
solo violin performance
440 Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
(violin, improvisation)
February 16, 2019 Olly Wilson Memorial Symposium
new composition for solo violin
University of California, Berkeley
(violin, composition)
October 17, 2018 Daniel Carter with Strings
Combination of freely improvised music with Arabic and Turkish traditional music
Happy Lucky#1, Brooklyn, NY
(violin)
February 2, 2018 Blues Influence
Music by Tom Swafford, Blind Willie Johnson,
W. C. Handy, M. Ravel, and Ampa Youtou (traditional West African song)
Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, Faculty Concert
(violinist, composer, presenter)
October 19, 2017 Bad Actor, a musical comedy
The Tank, NYC
(composer, lyricist, co-writer, pianist)
April 20, 2016 String Power, Barbés, Brooklyn
(composer, arranger, violinist)
September 10, 2015 String Power, album release concert
Shapeshifter Lab, Brooklyn
(composer, arranger, violinist)
March 29, 2013 Icarus, puppet musical based on the Greek myth
Jim Henson Carriage House, NYC
(composer, violinist, music director)
May 20, 2012 Becoming Human
funded in part by Brooklyn Arts Council, Community Arts Fund Grant
PS 217, Brooklyn, NY
(composer, violinist, producer)
February 11, 2012 Your Voice/ My Violin
workshop for children
Roulette, Brooklyn, NY
(composer, violinist, leader)
Fall, 2011 Butch Morris’ Lucky Cheng Orchestra
Fall residency with composer/conductor Lawrence ‘Butch’ Morris
Lucky Cheng’s, New York, NY
(violinist, improvisor)
August 5, 2011 Finger Games (for solo piano)
The Cell, New York, NY
(composer)
May 8, 2011 Mostly Solos (composition concert)
The Stone, New York, NY
(composer, violin)
January 21, 2011 Suspensions of Disbelief
Detour New Music Ensemble
Galapagos, Brooklyn, NY
(violin, composer)
March 10, 2010 The Real (?) Me (composition concert)
Roulette, New York, NY
(composer, violinist, presenter)
HONORS, AWARDS, COMMISSIONS
2012 Brooklyn Arts Council Community Arts Fund Grant
“Becoming Human,” composition performance at PS 217, Brooklyn
2008 National Endowment for the Arts grant
“Anthropomorphic,” musical for The Puppetry Arts Theatre
Seattle Philharmonic Cello Choir
“Tango Izquierda” (commission)
2008 Tufts University New Music Ensemble, “Bad Old Songs” (commission)
2006 4Culture Grant, Seattle, WA
trio (piano, clarinet, violin) performance and recording
2005 CityArtist Grant, Seattle, WA
Production of a concert of original compositions
2005 Jack Straw Foundation Artist Support Program,Seattle, WA
A CD of original compositions: Golden Crackers and Dubious Diversions
2003 Music Northwest, Seattle, WA “Bonnie George Campbell”
Composition selected for concert performance from a nation wide call for scores
2001 Charles Ives Scholarship,
American Academy of Arts and Letters
2001 Alfred Hertz Memorial Traveling Fellowship, U. C. Berkeley
1997-98 Bella Zellerbach Cross Scholarship 1997 Roslyn Schneider Eisner Prize for Composition 1996 Helen Williams Wallace and Morton Walker Scholarship
1996 Departmental Block Grant Fellowship 1994 Tufts University Concerto Competition (violin)
performed original violin concerto with the Tufts Orchestra, 1995
1994 Mabel Daniels Prize for music, Tufts University, 1994
1990 Soloist award (piano), Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival SELECTED RECORDINGS
2022 Rough Spaces
Solo improvisations for violin
Self released on BandCamp
2021 Bound to Go Away (violin, composer, arranger)
Solo violin album
Self released on BandCamp
2021 Scythe Paths Through the Nettles (violin)
Duo album with contrabassist Zachary Swanson
Self released on BandCamp
2018 Cispontine (violin, composer)
Multi-track violin album. Made in response to the RPM Challenge. Musicians are challenged to write and record a complete album in the month of February.
Self released
2015 Tom Swafford’s String Power (violin, composer, arranger)
11 member string ensemble
Original music by Swafford and arrangements of music by Charles Mingus, The Velvet Underground, Mohamed Abdel Wahab, The Carter Family, and The Stranglers
Funded by an Indiegogo crowd-funding campaign
Self released
2013 Songs from the Inn (violin, piano, arranger, composer)
Inspired by my summers as the in-house musician at the Old Faithful Inn, Yellowstone National Park
Self released
2011 Violin for Christmas (violin, arranger)
Multi-track violin arrangements of Christmas carols
Self released
2011 Aram Bajakian’s Kef (violin) Arrangements of Armenian folk music and originals
Solo violin CD of folk songs, jazz and classical arrangements and original compositions created over a year of performing in the New York City subway stations.
Self released
2007 Stonehouse Songs (violin)
Jarrad Powell, composer, Jessika Kenney, vocalist
Present Sounds Recordings
2005 Cistern (violin)
Improvisations with the DoublendsVert ensemble, recorded in an empty underground reservoir with a 45-second reverberation
Line Records
2004 DoublendsVert, (violin)
Present Sounds Recordings
2004 “Imposition” (composer)
Intrada (Ryan Hare, bassoon)
Present Sounds Recordings
2003 Violin Improvisations (violin)
solo improvisations recorded at Seattle University
