Kulta
for solo cello
Op. 1 (2013)

Kulta was written in 2013 during my first year at Luther College to honor my high school orchestra director, Mark Eskola. Mark was a true mentor to me, not only in terms of my journey with music, but also in my walk with the Lord. He had a contagious enthusiasm for students to learn, grow, and have fun making music. His work ethic is also unrivaled. Being a nineteen-year-old, I was finally beginning to learn about the unaccompanied cello music of the twentieth century, most notably the Kodaly Solo Sonata and the Cassado Solo Suite. This piece makes use of a number of elegant celloistic kinds of writing in a form loosely based on sonata allegro movements.