This concert features some of the strongest works I have composed in my time at the University of Tennessee. The three Preludes are drawn from my nine movement work The Muses. The Nocturne in B major, and Poem of Reverie were generously commissioned by supporters of the College of Music, Eden McNabb Bishop and Karen and Harvey White respectively. These commissions offered me the opportunity to explore chamber music for the first time, and they have had a significant impact on my compositional development. I would also like to thank Angie and Terry Masini, Anne May, Carol Seamons, Eden McNabb Bishop, Gloria and Stephen Palacios, John Kelly, Mark Hill, Nathan and Amy Honeycutt, and Susan Branch for their support of my participation in the study abroad program in Bologna, Italy. While visiting Venice, we stopped at a coffee shop to escape the summer heat. It was there that I first heard the strains of what would become my second Nocturne, which is the closing piece of tonight’s concert, and it is dedicated to all my supporters. Had I not been there, this music would have turned out very differently, if at all. I remember being completely overwhelmed by the beauty of Venice, and it is this sense of beauty and meaning that I hope to portray in this piece.