Biography
Soloist/composer/conductor/recording artist Demetrius Spaneas leads a varied international career. He has commissioned, recorded and premiered works by many major composers, including John Cage, John Harbison, Donald Martino, Bernard Rands, Gunther Schuller, Joan Tower, and many others. He currently has two solo recordings on Capstone Records, When Wind Comes to Sparse Bamboo (2003) and From a Far-off World (2006). Upcoming releases for 2010 include: Sfumato, a collection of improvisations with vocalist Galina Parfenova, and November Snow, a series of free improvisations that feature interaction between acoustic instruments and computer, with Neil Rolnick and Bruce Gremo.
Spaneas’ major interests have included combining improvisation within classically structured forms, with electronics and video, and world music. Currently, he is working with combining aural and visual art forms into multimedia presentations based on ancient thought and ritual. His music has been performed at major venues and festivals throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia.
In demand as a composer, performer and guest lecturer, Spaneas has been a guest of Harvard University, California Institute of the Arts, Tanglewood, New England Conservatory, American University of Bulgaria (Blagoevgrad), University of the Arts (Belgrade, Serbia), the Xenakis Center for Creative Research (Athens, Greece), Beethovenhaus (Bonn, Germany), Uzbekistan State Conservatory, Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan) College of Music, Mikhail Chemyakin Foundation (St. Petersburg, Russia), Dnipropetrovsk Conservatory (Ukraine) the Latvian Academy of Music (Riga), the National Conservatory of Tajikistan, the Baku (Azerbaijan) Music Academy, and many others. He has also presented numerous talks and concerts for the US State Department in Moscow and St. Petersburg as part of the American Centers program, and has received grants from the US State Department and the Fulbright/Hayes Act to present his music and lectures on composition throughout the CIS. In 2009, he has been awarded a Meet The Composer Global Connections Grant to be Composer-in-Residence at the Black Box Music and Vision Festival in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, an ASCAPlus Award, and is the featured soloist and resident composer for the Musicacoustica Festival in Beijing, China. In 2010, he was the Artist-in-Residence for the 2nd Dushanbe International Jazz Festival (Tajikistan), and worked with the US Embassy and local organizations as a guest artist in Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, and Latvia.
As a contemporary classical performer, Spaneas has been a member of the Auros Group for New Music (Boston), the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, the Harvard Group for New Music, Forecast Music (NY), and Percussia (NY), as well as many other chamber and symphonic ensembles in the Northeast. He has also been a guest soloist with numerous classical ensembles, including the Boston Philharmonic and the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra (Boston). As a commercial performer, he has shared the stage with many top acts, including the Funk Brothers (featured soloist, 2005-06), Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, and many others. He is also the founder and leader of the world music ensemble BALKANASIA, which combines music from the Balkans and Near East with jazz and rock, and the co-director of the New York based chamber group the Sapphire Ensemble. He plays exclusively on Gonzales Reeds on clarinet and saxophone and as a composer is a member of ASCAP. He is the cover story for the July/August 2008 issue of Saxophone Journal.
Spaneas was Composer-in-Residence with the Bay Area Chamber Symphony (CA) for 2007-09, and is currently on the faculty of the Music Department at Northeastern University, where he also serves as Arts Administrator. He teaches classical and jazz studies at Suffolk University and the New England Conservatory Preparatory School/School of Continuing Education.
