I founded These Trees Grow in 2019 to offer the resource I needed but didn’t get when I was a young artist trying to find my way. I’ve had the joy of working with dozens of artists from across the artistic world, helping them to answer the big picture questions we all face in this quickly changing world.

I’ve always been an artistic generalist. Even as a kid, I was joyfully all over the place - playing trumpet in ten different ensembles, piano in jazz combos, acoustic guitar in youth group, singing in choir and theater, an array of camps, all the while writing and recording songs as far back as elementary school. What I wasn’t was an obviously transcendent instrumentalist headed towards a career in a prominent orchestra. As a result, despite having clear musical talent pouring forth from me 24/7, I wasn’t at all clear on how I could pursue a career - or a life - as an artist. My parents weren't professional artists, and while they were incredibly supportive, they simply weren’t helpful in making sense of my place in the artistic ecosystem.

Back then, it would’ve been incredible to have been connected with something like These Trees Grow. While I did have some excellent mentors (the cantor at my synagogue, my high school choir director, and my private trumpet teacher come to mind) there wasn’t someone in my life who could open my eyes to the full map of what was possible in an artistic career, who could appraise the full range of my particular talents, help me understand what the options were, and then empower me to put into action a plan to reach my artistic goals, whether with the arts at the center, or as a fulfilling, creative piece of the larger pie of life. These Trees Grow is my effort to play this role in the lives of young artists.

In my own creative life, there’s good news in that I did eventually find my place. I’m a joyful multi-hyphenate with a current focus in musical theater.

My original theatrical compositions have been produced in New York, regionally, and academically, and featured in The New York Times, Time Out, and New York Magazine. You can listen to some work here. I’ve also produced albums and tracks for a variety of artists, including Deborah Sacks Mintz, the 92Y, Jay Rapoport, and Carla Friend. My choral arrangements, transcriptions, and compositions are in use across the country.

In 2020, I founded Super Secret Arts, a Brooklyn theater company and venue based around an innovative economic model, that was featured in outlets including American Theatre and WNYC.

Raised in Michigan, I was trained from childhood as a classical singer and multi-instrumentalist. After studying classical voice and composition in undergrad, I spent my twenties recording engineering, touring with indie rock bands, and writing musicals. A Brooklynite since 2008, I continued working as a touring musician and producer until 2014 when I rediscovered my love of musical theater. Over the past decade, I’ve had the joy to both write on my own and collaborate on 11 musicals, that have ranged from running a year off-Broadway, to winning tiny arts festivals from Austin to NYC.

I received my B.A. in Music from the University of Michigan and my M.F.A. in Arts Management from Brooklyn College. I’ll receive my MSW from NYU in Spring of 2025. I live in Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn with my wife Rachel, son, and exuberant flatcoat retriever.