Bermel has traveled the globe, studying traditional instruments and the music surrounding them, honing his compositional skills in a broad range of musical styles, learning from masters such as William Albright, William Bolcom, and Louis Andriessen. He is today a composer to watch, as he garners awards and commissions in the U.S. and abroad. Soul Garden, title composition of Bermel's 2002 CD recording of his own smaller chamber works, may originally have been written for a dance company, but later became a showcase for solo viola. The opening passage of languid, lopey, liquid blues immediatelysets the tone.