“Oftentimes” is distinct in my repertoire, as it is entirely orchestral and features a female singer as the vocalist. In late 2016, I had the idea to compose an entirely orchestral piece of music. Since I often incorporate orchestral instrument sounds in my songs, the logical progression seemed to be composing a full-on symphonic piece. During the writing process, I knew the arrangement was to feature a female singer. It was at the same time that I befriended Ann Giancola, whom was employed at same company I was. Our meeting could not have been better timed. As I came to discover, she is a classically-trained opera singer. After telling Ann about the song, she was interesting in collaborating and shared with me several YouTube videos of her performing. I was blown away by her incredible voice. The recording session for her vocals took place in August of 2017, after which I fine-tuned the final arrangement of the song. The overall process was lengthy but extremely rewarding, with the end result being what I feel is a beautiful and moving piece of music.