The Monuments are a series of works that explore a single enormous non-repeating scale, spanning seven octaves, by highlighting and combining different registral areas in a manner inspired by the shifting of mottled light on a large stone. As a group, they are dedicated to and written as a monument in memory and honor of victims of unjust violence, guided by the words of Pope St. John Paul II in the encyclical Veritatis Splendor:

“Whatever is hostile to life itself, such as any kind of homicide, genocide, abortion, euthanasia and voluntary suicide; whatever violates the integrity of the human person, such as mutilation, physical and mental torture and attempts to coerce the spirit; whatever is offensive to human dignity, such as subhuman living conditions, arbitrary imprisonment, deportation, slavery, prostitution and trafficking in women and children; degrading conditions of work which treat labourers as mere instruments of profit, and not as free responsible persons: all these and the like are a disgrace, and so long as they infect human civilization they contaminate those who inflict them more than those who suffer injustice, and they are a negation of the honour due to the Creator.”

Though the series began as a single work, not intended for continued development, in the past couple years I have re-approached the initial “Monument scale” as a concrete way of tying together a few conceptually-related works. The list is now up to three completed compositions, with two more in the works:

Monument (2008)
for orchestra

Monument II: Crucifixus (2015)
for flute, alto sax, and cello

Monument III: Charleston, Summer of 2015 (2015)
for wind ensemble and electronics

I was a stranger and you gave me no welcome (2018)
for double bass and live electronics