Premiered by Barry Socher, Violinist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Armen Ksajikian, co-principal cellist with the Los Angeles Chamber Symphony Orchestra and Bryan Pezzone, prominent pianist in the Southern California music scene, "Japanese Gardens" is the second of a series of pieces which have a common motif. Growing up in Southern California with its desert and Asian influences prompted me to design a garden in my house in the hills with a river of rocks and boulders surrounded by grasses and green plants. "Japanese Gardens" evolved out of the designing of this space. Peaceful, melodic, melancholy and richly textural, this work is suited to compliment most any program.