Legas Toperson (2017)
For Violin, Viola and Piano
Duration c. 7′
O Quarteto (2018)
The Quartet
For String Quartet
Duration c. 10′ – 3 movements.
O Quinteto (2019)
The Quintet
For Brass Quintet
Duration c. 9′
Sextet (2019)
For Flute, Clarinet, Violin, Cello, Piano and Percussion
Duration c. 7’30”
What’s Next?! (2019)
For Violin, Trombone and Piano
Duration c. 5’30”
Hard-bopped Overdrive (2020)
For Clarinet, Piano and Percussion (timpani and cymbal)
Duration c. 7’30”
There Where I’m Not (2024-25)
For String Quartet
Duration c. 11’30”
UMKC Graduate Fellowship String Quartet
First Violin: Caroline Beckman
Second Violin: Qiufan Chen
Viola: Katy Chung
Cello: Seungchan Song
Lately, I’ve realized how much of my relationship with music is shaped by nostalgia. Most of the music I love to listen to was written long ago by composers who are no longer alive, performed by musicians and ensembles whose best days are in the past. This is true even when I turn to pop, rock, or jazz—my favorite artists often belong to another time.
In There Where I’m Not, I try to explore that dear connection to the past while recognizing that, as a composer living today, I can’t stay stuck there. In the course of its 12 minutes, you might hear melodies and harmonies that remind the music of Chopin, Beethoven, or Brahms, but they don’t stay the same. As the music unfolds, these familiar sounds are often challenged and transformed, sometimes subtly, sometimes dramatically, into something that represents my personal feeling of what is to be alive and making music in the 21st century.
There Where I’m Not reflects on the challenge of navigating tradition as a living composer. It explores what it means to draw from the past without being there—to acknowledge a tradition dear to me while embracing the urgency of the now.
Composed in 2024-2025, during my residency with the UMKC Graduate Fellowship String Quartet.
Rodrigo Camargo, composer 