He studied composition at the UW and Princeton. He has composed for orchestra, chamber groups, and piano, as well as working with computer-generated and -modified materials. Along with Keith Eisenbrey and Neal Meyer, he is a founding member of the improvisational group Banned Rehearsal, now in its 29th year. The Bagatelles were composed during a productive week in 1999. Rhythmically rich and fiendishly delicate, in performing them the pianist is confronted with a task that feels like building a house of cards while wearing oven mitts. The musical language, though it consists of quite recognizable tunes and harmonies, is fractured horizontally, as though thin layers of brittle rock had been twisted slightly under immense pressure.