The Velvet Algorithm (2023) is composed for 12 musicians with electronics. Behind this piece is a fully conceived album length project, a complete computational environment for composing, and a compositional design that allows for the material to be repurposed, recombined and further manipulated to create a family of pieces that all point back to the instrumental composition, The Velvet Algorithm. The first performances was in January of 2023 at the Festival Empreintes in Lyon, France with Fabrice Pierre conducting. The U.S. premiere was given at Cal Performances with the ECO Ensemble and David Milnes. All pieces in the Velvet Algorithms project, except for the instrumental composition The Velvet Algorithm, are studio/electronic remixes derived from the larger instrumental composition.

The Velvet Algorithm is a reconfigurable composition inspired by the combinatorial logic of the genetic alphabet: A, T, G, and C. Funded by a Mellon Project Grant, the work centers around a concept album recorded at CNMAT, where each instrument was captured in an isolated room to enable flexible post-production recombination. The individual parts were composed specifically for modularity, forming segments I call V-Algo Extractions.These extractions serve as the building blocks for new, smaller derivative works created in the production studio. Sections of the full composition can be layered, combined, or interchanged—allowing parts from one section to be subtracted, added, or recombined with elements from another. In this way, the V-Algo Extractions constitute a dynamic and expandable library of material derived from the original composition.The structure of The Velvet Algorithm is also designed to be temporally combinatorial. Individual parts can be performed at different tempos, allowing for mensural canons in which one voice moves faster or slower than another. This introduces a meta-compositional layer to the project, where time itself becomes a variable in the recombination process.For listeners who begin by exploring the V-Algo Extractions, the final work in the series—the "mother" composition—emerges as a culmination, revealing the structural and sonic relationships that unify the entire collection.

The US premiere was by the ECO Ensemble, David Milnes, conductor
Tod Brody, flute, Kyle Bruckmann, oboe, Matt Ingalls, clarinet, Alicia Telford, horn, Jamael Smith, bassoon,Loren Mach and Megan Shieh-Cruz,  percussion, Hrabba Atladottir, violin, Jooyeon Kong, violin, Ellen Ruth Rose, viola, Leighton Fong, cello, Richard Worn, double bass

I remain forever grateful to the extraordinary musicians that have worked with me to perform these difficult pieces.

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