I’ve always been moved by the mystery of ritual and am attracted to stylized theatrical forms, including Chinese opera, Noh theater, Greek tragedy, medieval liturgical drama and Elizabethan drama. Each of my operas is a ritual that invites the audience into a mythical and archetypal world; and like a mosaic, my operas explore geometries inherent in their subjects. Characters are often seen as reflections of one another, exploring ideas rather than forming distinct personalities. The aim of each opera is to take the viewer through a rite of passage in which the musical, poetic and dramatic facets of the piece help elicit a new awareness.

I believe that an engaging performance comes, in part, from the ensemble’s commitment to the process. I try to find a balance between structure and freedom to give the ensemble solid grounding with enough space to individualize the role. I weave “ragas,” inspired by the Indian classical tradition, into my scores. These are rules governing ways in which the performers can improvise. Each piece evolves through a series of rehearsals in which each contributor’s voice is heard and incorporated into the larger whole..

In creating the pieces, I place a strong emphasis on the visual component of the performance. Whereas in traditional Western opera, staging and design are “interpretations,” I find that movement and visual elements, such as masks, are integral parts of my work. In structuring the scores, I build in a sense of openness that allows the visual elements to be equal to the music. I collaborate with participants to develop and refine all aspects of the opera.

My most recent opera, Psyche, takes this idea of collaboration to a new level. Psyche tells the story of wrathful Aphrodite’s quest to ruin Psyche, a mortal who is considered to be more beautiful than even the Greek goddess herself. Although Psyche is the main character in the story, she is rarely present; her story is told from the perspective of Aphrodite, Psyche’s father (the King), Eros, Psyche’s sister, and Persephone. I found this absent omnipresence dramatically compelling; it serves as the main dramatic tension of the piece.

Given that Psyche is an 'intersection' between gods and humans, the score itself allows for intersections between music, movement, words, and visual elements, elevating each discipline to a status equal to that of the music. I have extended this concept to “word ragas,” and to create an organic link between the composition of music and words. While these ragas can govern such things as context-setting, form and word quality, in Psyche they are very open-ended, allowing the poet to also create his own forms and rules (in a sense, his own “ragas-within-ragas”) to help establish his unique poetic voice. In Psyche, Thom Schramm is to be credited for creating many of these intricate and subtle forms. The score also called for Christy Fisher to contribute her own unique movement aesthetic throughout the piece, in collaboration with Tori Ellison's puppet design, and Ken's theatrical direction and dramaturgy.

As with Noh theater and Chinese opera, which have categories of plays such as Warrior play or God play, I’ve discovered my own categories and traditions. With The Passion of Saint Thomas More, I draw upon the medieval passion play form; Moon in the Bucket (1998) is inspired by the Noh theater; Dream of Zeus (2004) and Psyche (2008) draws upon ancient Greek tragedy; Stargazer (2006) is a hybrid of the different forms. Just as Noh combines a series of plays into a larger whole, I hope to create larger works through combinations of my operas.