One of my greatest joys is collaborating with others on a project, and when I was granted the opportunity to compose a piece for National Concerts and their Carnegie Hall performance with Dr. Alan Zabriskie, I thought it would be special to share this Carnegie Hall debut with my older brother, Francis. Francis is the kind of person everybody needs to meet in their lifetime. He is an amazing and intentional person, and all of his writing overflows with meaning and depth. As a composer, I have a field day when I set music to his words. Here is what Francis has to say about the poem:

In 2024, beloved Broadway performer Gavin Creel died suddenly from a rare form of cancer. Just a year prior, my brother and I had the privilege of seeing him perform in his final two shows, Sondheim's Into the Woods and his own musical Walk on Through. Gavin was a once-in-a-generation talent who began his musical theatre career after hearing Stephen Sondheim’s "Being Alive" sung at Carnegie Hall. He discovered what was possible through the arts, and he wanted to bring that same light to the stage. Yet even more than dazzling audiences, Gavin lived each day as an opportunity to strengthen his community and care for those around him. One of his former castmates shared a memory of how after a hard day, Gavin took her by the hand and simply said, “I’m walking you home.” Even in the midst of his terminal illness, Gavin encouraged a friend and sent him these final messages:

also so proud of you for LIVING

not living is the one thing i have learned so far during this time that is NO LONGER AN OPTION

If you are alive LIVE

Drawing inspiration from Gavin's own words, this poem is a call to be truly human—to make music, to mourn, to sit beside someone in the dark, and to walk with one another toward the light. In times when darkness seems to loom large, it is love and friendship like this that makes life worth living.

Musically, I was able to explore and incorporate quotes and allusions to Creel’s “Walk on Through” and many of Sondheim’s “Company” and “Into the Woods. On a more personal note, our mother was diagnosed with breast cancer as I began to write the first couple measures. We quickly changed the title of the piece from “If you’re alive” to “I Walk These Woods With You” because we wanted to fight this fight alongside our mother in her journey and recovery. The final notes were written in the morning of November 1, 2025, hours before my mother’s first surgery to remove the cancer.