Music has the innate ability to ignite our imagination and to engage listeners with new stories, settings, and points of view. My compositional voice, therefore, arose out of a need to create a distinctive sound world for each work. As such, my music includes stark juxtapositions of color, a seamless integration of modern techniques within traditional styles, extreme registral contrast, and dramatic shifts of momentum.
My musical vocabulary was greatly inspired by my primary teacher, Dr. Laura Schwendinger. Laura often describes her work as a branch of maximalism, drawing from the world around her to create a greater whole. While aspects of this arise in my music through the manipulation of sounds, melodies, myths, and instruments from my heritage, my music is more aptly defined as hyperchromatic. I find hyperchromaticism to be an intensely engaging harmonic and melodic language which blurs the lines between traditional tonality and more modern tonal ambiguity. This style is highlighted by composers who have inspired my research such as Melinda Wagner, Toru Takemitsu, Samuel Maxwell Davies, Kaija Saariaho, and Augusta Read Thomas.
Throughout the examples listed below, you will find that several themes are present throughout my work. Some of these include:
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Musical Heritage
As mentioned previously, I will often draw upon my musical background to create new material. Primarily, these include sounds, styles, and techniques from my Norwegian, Swedish, Bukovina Deutsche, and Wolgadeutsch heritages. However, these inspirations also include allusions to music, styles, and genres from my life that have had a large impact. This allows me to create a continuous dialogue and experiment with manipulating the material to create new styles and forms.
Dramatic Intensity
Much of my work tends to be programmatic to highlight events, stories, or concepts that I feel are important to discuss. Due to this concept, motives are treated as an element of a story which grows and develops throughout the music. These musical figures alter and change depending on the surrounding music and the woven, narrative story.
Temporal Manipulation
Another key theme is the use of time throughout my work to alter audience perception. I see temporal manipulation in three different aspects of the music: first, as a way to artificially elongate and shorten our experience of time through the increase or removal of activity; second, as a means to instill momentum through short bursts of energy followed by languid suspensions of dissonances; and lastly, as a method to show musical development and track changes throughout the work.
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These methods allow me to create unique and engaging pieces of music that serve to heighten the storytelling aspects of the piece. By bringing in modern techniques, sounds, and colors within traditional and innovative forms, this compositional method allows me to constantly push my bounds and increase my musical vocabulary within every new work.
Composer CV:
Click to Download: Honas_Composer CV
Academic CV:
Click to Download: Honas_Academic CV
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Dr. Richard Silvers, Faculty Recital
Apr. 27, 2025 | Fort Lewis College, Co.
Journey into Phantasia
Richard Silvers, Violin
CMS South Central Conference
Mar. 14, 2025 | Petree Recital Hall, Oklahoma City University
Sculptures from an Amber Plain
Jacob R. Thomas, Piano
Hale Library Concert Series
Mar. 7, 2025 | Hale Library, Kansas State University
Schnell, Schnell
Slawomir Dobrzanski, Alejandro Avila, Piano
New Piano Work Premiere
Dec. 23, 2023 | Gloria Dei Lutheran Church
My Father, the Vinegrower
Annette Lindal, Piano
Halloween with TCCC
Oct. 31, 2023 | Itasca Orchestra Strings Program
Dikterens Mjød
Emma Crifrino, Viola; Magdalena Sas, Cello; Dafydd Bevil, Horn; Matthew Honas Narrator; Rachel Maske, Narrator
KMTA Commissioned Composer of the Year
Sept. 23, 2023 | White Hall, Washburn University
Sculptures from an Amber Plain
Jacob R. Thomas, piano
Itasca Strings Orchestra
Aug. 19, 2023 | Reif Performing Center for the Arts, Grand Rapids, MN
Music in Disguise
Itasca Strings
Variations on a Theme from Germany
Feb. 23, 2023 | Kansas State University
Wolga Sinfonie: III. Aber macht das Hamm kommsch
Halloween with TCCC
Oct. 30, 2022 | Itasca Orchestra Strings Program
Dikterens Mjød
Same as above
Heidi Keener, Doctoral Recital
May 1, 2022 | Collins Hall, UW-Madison
Seidhr
Heidi Keener, Flute
Celebrating Wisconsin Composers
Apr. 22, 2022 | Collins Hall, UW-Madison
Seidhr
Heidi Keener, Flute
Spektral Quartet, Masterclass
Apr. 2, 2022 | Hamel Music Center, UW-Madison
Come Orion
Clara Lyon, Violin; Theo Feinberg, Violin; Doyle Armbrust, Viola; Russell Rolen, Cello
Third Coast Chamber Collective, Commission Premiere
April 1, 2022 | Hidden Cave Cidery
Dikterens Mjød
Same as above
Full Orchestra
Symphony No. 1: Wolga Sinfonie [29:30]
I. Neuen Brosch [New Plains]
II. Morgen fruh isch alles wek [In the Morning Everything will be Gone]
III. Aber macht das Hamm kommsch [But Make Home Come Quickly]
Full Orchestra | 2021-2022
Great Plains Symphony [12:30]
Full Orchestra | 2020
Violin Concerto [5:30]
Violin, Full Orchestra | 2019
Paul Gauguin’s Visions of Fire Dance [5:00]
Full Orchestra | 2019
Microcosm [2:05]
Full Orchestra | 2018
Chamber Works
The Mystery at Game’s End [4:00]
Brass Quintet | 2025
Fowl Play [2:45]
Horn, Oboe, Bass Clarinet, Tom-Toms | 2021
Cavernous Rhythmus [7:30]
Percussion Ensemble | 2020
Requiem per E.C. [8:45]
Violin, Cello | 2020
Elegy for an Abandoned Fate [4:02]
Flute, Guitar | 2019
Trepidations [4:03]
Clarinet, Violin, Cello | 2019
We the People will not be Silenced [8:15]
Pierrot Ensemble | 2018
Vocal Works
I Can’t Move On… [12:30]
Baritone, Pierrot plus Percussion | 2021
It was not death, for I stood up [4:15]
Soprano, Flute, Mandolin, Cello, Percussion | 2018
The Road Not Taken [4:30]
Alto, Baritone, Piano | 2015
Solos
Intermezzo [3:30]
Cello Solo | 2025
Abyssal Wraith [3:30]
Piano Solo | 2025
Schooling Fish [1:00]
Piano Solo | 2025
My Father, the Vinegrower [4:30]
Piano Solo | 2023
Autumn Fragrances [4:00]
Organ Solo | 2023
Seidhr [8:30]
Flute Solo | 2022
Contemplations et Réflexions: Une Priére [6:00]
Flute Solo | 2020
Nocturne fantastique [9:30]
I. S’endormir
II. Le Spectre
Piano Solo | 2019-2020
Electronics
Project Islands [6:30]
Electronics | 2020
Blastar [8:50]
Electronics | 2019
Dark Lair [18:00]
Electronics | 2018
GF Heroes [43:00]
Video Game Music for The Fifth Waffle | 2019
Return Void [9:00]
Electronics | 2017
Remnants [5:50]
Electronics | 2017
Dungeon Divers [12:35]
Electronics | 2016
Commissions and Collaborations
Schnell, Schnell [8:00]
Piano Four Hands| 2025
Journey into Phantasia [12:50]
Violin Solo | 2024
Music in Disguise [5:00]
String Orchestra | 2023
Sculptures from an Amber Plain [15:00]
I. Defender Prelude
II. As Cardinal Glass
III. Etern Firen
Jointly Commissioned by KMTA and MTNA
Piano Solo | 2022-2023
ᛞᛁᚲᛏᛖᚱᛖᚾᛊ ᛗᛃᚢᛞ [Dikterens Mjød] [19:30]
I. ᚺᛁᛗᛗᛖᛚᛈᚨᚲᛏ [Himmelpakt]
II. ᚲᚢᚨᛊᛁᚱᛊ ᚠᚢᛞᛊᛖᛚ [Kvasirs Fødsel]
III. ᛗᛟᚱᛞ ᛟᚷ ᛗᛃᚢᛞ [Mord og Mjød]
IV. ᚷᛁᚾᚨᚱᚱ ᛊᛟᛗ ᛒᛇᚱᛖᚱ ᛒᚨᛚᛖᛁᚷᚱ [Ginarr som bærer Báeygr]
V. ᚨᚱᚾᚺᛁᛟᚠᚦᛁ ᚠᚨᚱ ᛏᛁᛚ ᚲᚢᚾᛊᛏᚾᛖᚱᛁᛖᛏ [Arnhöfði Far til Kunstneriet]
Commissioned by the Third Coast Chamber Collective
Viola, Cello, Horn, English Narration, Norwegian Narration | 2021
Telemann’s Fantasia #4: Im modernen Stil [5:35]
Part of the Telemann: Choose Your Own Adventure Project
Flute Solo | 2020
Prismatic Fanfare [2:30]
Part of the Chihuly Vignettes
Violin, Cello | 2019
Masterclass in CCCC [10:00]
Variable Instrumentation | 2018
The Story [8:50]
Collaboration with the Kansas State Dance Department
Electronics | 2019
Sample Works
Sculptures from an Amber Plain (2023)
Excerpt: II. As Cardinal Glass [mm.66-97]
Commissioned by: Jointly by KMTA and MTNA
Premiered on: September 23, 2023 in White Hall at Washburn University
Piano: Jacob R. Thomas
Symphony No. 1: Wolga Sinfonie (2022)
Excerpt: III. Aber macht das hamm kommsch [mm. 1-70]
Dissertation Thesis: Wolga Sinfonie
Program Note: Symphony No. 1: Wolga Sinfonie, written between May of 2021 and March of 2022, was mainly inspired by a polka my late father wrote in the 1980s. The symphony represents the history and culture of the Volga Germans who immigrated to Russia. As I grew up listening to my father perform Volga German polkas on the accordion, piano, and saxophone, it was important for me to represent this cultural heritage along with the music I grew up listening to in a large-scale work.
Dikterens Mjød (2021)
Full Excerpt
Commissioned by: The Third Coast Chamber Collective
Premiered on: April 1, 2022 at the Hidden Cave Cidery
Viola: Emma Cifrino; Cello: Magdalena Sas; Horn: Dafydd Bevil
English Narrator: Matthew M. Honas; Norwegian: Rachel Maske
Requiem per E.C. (2021)
Excerpt [mm. 61-159]
Commissioned by: Magdalena Sas
Premiered on: April 8, 2021 as a pandemic virtual concert
Violin: Richard Silvers; Cello: Magdalena Sas