"Composed as part of a consortium commission for Megan Ihnen, Compline is a brief, wordless lullaby that, I hope, captures some of what I call the “anxious-calm” of nightfall. This moment, between twilight and deep midnight, has always brought me odd sensations, and as an insomniac through most of my 20s, I would often try to sing myself to sleep. This “anxious-calm” always seemed to be the cool twilight chill that unfurled off the heat of the day and coiled up around my ankles; the suede midnight that embraces you, cool at first but immediately known; the weightlessness of the yearning for being sleep-drunk: the muted mumbles of speech, remembering only the
shapes of words and sounds – as we remember the vaguest happenings at the end of a long, difficult day – arise
as the vowels produced by the singer. In the middle of the piece, a naïve, folk-like melody appears, a small piece of
coherence, perhaps a return to something simple.
-- May 2017, West Columbia, SC"


Thomas Dempster (b. 1980, Michigan) is a composer writing predominantly chamber, electroacoustic, and multimedia works. With nearly 100 completed works, his output ranges from solo miniatures to extended works for orchestra with soloists. His music bears accessible yet decidedly individualistic traits, from tonal references to extended techniques, from use of classical forms to experimental soundscapes and video works. Informed by the natural world, folklore, scientific phenomena, the paranormal, and poliitcs, his music explores intersections between wonder, surrealism, the mundane and everyday, black humor, and tinkering with the ideas of beauty for the hell of it. While at home with all instruments and ensembles, Dempster has composed extensively for flute, bassoon, saxophone, and digital media, with an increasing interest in art song, video works, and Jazz. His works have been described as having “an impressive sense of physicality” (Computer Music Journal), and as being “distinct and clever” (Flutist Quarterly) and “restless, aggressive, playful, eerie…a multifaceted, whimsical evocation” (J. Harvey, Indianapolis Star).