Ex Voto is a collection of nine pieces for piano, cello, and violin. I wanted to create music that is more personal and exposed than anything else that I have written. The inspiration for this album came from a visit to the Cloisters in New York, and from my Catholic, Italian-American upbringing. The term ex voto comes from the Latin ex voto suscepto, "from the vow made" and is an offering to a saint or divinity given in fulfillment of a vow in gratitude or devotion. The music of Ex Voto is a return to everything that I love about composing: lilting melodies, driving rhythms, and lush harmonies. 

Ex Voto was recorded in both Nashville and Stamford, CT at the legendary Creative Workshop and Carriage House Studios. For pieces Mechanical Angels, Peregrine, Reflecion, Relics, and Il Nodo, I recorded on the piano used by Ray Charles and Bob Dylan on the Johnny Cash Show. The piano’s warm history complements the meditative spaces in each of the five tracks. 

Pocket Saints, Chant, Ex Voto and Flight were recorded at Carriage House Studios in Stamford, Connecticut. Carriage House is actually the first studio that I recorded at when I was six. Since Stamford is my hometown and Carriage House is an incredible studio, it was important for me to have that history as part of my album.