Somewhere around 20,000 feet on a cross-country plane ride, I realized that I had only two albums downloaded to my phone: the complete Beethoven Symphonies, and a thrash metal album- a genre that was recommended to me by one of my university students. At the same time, I had just started to look for inspiration for a new commission with Adam Torres and the Stratus Chamber Orchestra...

While my compositional voice is frequently influenced by multiple genres, this piece of music is a more deliberate and obvious attempt in bringing them together. The title refers to the idea of inspiration coming from unexpected places, but I also found it irresistible to follow this idea for the music itself, with wild and surprising moments throughout.

Unexpected Places is an homage to the amazing creators in all genres of music. To stay true to the inspiration from that initial four-hour plane ride, about halfway through the music, the listener will hear light, "classical" eighth notes outline the keys of all nine of Beethoven’s symphonies until they are suddenly met with a guttural, heavy metal “scream”.