31 December 2007
Mark Twain
United States of America

Dear Mark,

“What are you doing New Years’ Eve?” Nice tune. New Years’ here is the big celebration; it’s their version of Western Christmas: there are New Years’ trees, presents, and even Father Frost. It also seems to be a family Holiday more than a party (although there’s plenty of that!), which is nice; it’s also nice that it’s a Holiday that everyone can celebrate.

It’s been quite a year, most especially the last 4 months here in Russia and on the road. I’ve had some amazing experiences, and the other not so amazing experiences were at least great learning experiences. I have been able to experience all of these cultures first hand, been living in a country which I never thought I’d even want to visit, returned to the ‘homeland’ for the first time in almost 25 years, and traveled to Central Asia-I have made new friends all over, which has been amazing! The New Year will bring more experiences-return trips to Greece (possibly twice), Bulgaria, and Uzbekistan; new trips (and new friends!) to Germany, Ukraine, and possibly Kyrgyzstan; other cities in Russia and who knows where else?!?!

I’ve been lucky to premier a number of great works (and new versions!) by my American friends-Molly, Chris, Bill, Natasha, Carol-thank you for writing such great pieces and for the opportunity to present them! To my friends Alex, Denise, Pablo, Beth, Andrew, Sean-thank you for the honor to continuously play your pieces. And to my ‘international’ friends-Nickos, Manolis, Peter, Costas, Akis, the whole Greek contingency, Lily, Marcus-thank you for writing me beautiful music that I will have the honor to play again and again, and to always think of our friendship when I do.

This has been a great year for premiers of my own music! I have had so many in so many varied places and presented by some great musicians and ensembles. And more to come in the New Year! It’s been amazing how many premiers I have had in one country/continent while I was performing in another-2 times in the Fall and again at least 2 more times this Spring! I actually never get to hear my own music premiered…

Speaking of which, the last month has been incredibly creative. I wrote “Episodes” for cello and piano for Susanne Friedrich in Boston (premier at NEC, March), which I’m happy with. My “Angels Praise Thee“ for 5 female vocal parts, finished in November, was premiered on the 16th. The technological inefficiencies of the Russian Internet has crippled my possibilities of getting two films that I need to score (and have to wait for them via post), which inadvertently has given me time to write “APXE” (pronounced ‘ar-khe‘, it‘s Greek)-this is the largest ‘live’ performance project I have ever done-an hour long stage work for dancers, musicians, and lasers, to be premiered at a Greco-Russian festival in Athens in the Fall, hopefully at the Acropolis (negotiations for this are underway). This is a work that deals with human’s evolution of culture, psychology, and perception. This is a huge undertaking, needless to say.

It’s funny…I like really specific parameters when I write-if someone says “give me a piece for zither and slide trumpet that is 7’42” long and uses the “Three Company’s” theme as a cantus firmus“, I’m so your guy. I dislike when people say “just write something”-I like parameters. In the initial stages of “APXE”, the producer only wanted two musicians: a wind player and a didgeridoo…I was like “cool…but for an hour?…”. Luckily, I was able to argue for a larger ensemble, adding a cello and a percussionist-I usually don’t do this, but there is just so much (and for so long) one can do with a flute and didgeridoo…

Immediately after finishing “APXE”, I wrote a saxophone and electronics piece that was a tribute to both insomnia and the earlier bedbugs episode, entitled “Just Another Night on Plastic”. I really like this piece…I am overwhelmed by what I put into “APXE”, especially since I wrote it in a week! But, “Just Another…” is plain fun. I’m deciding where to premier it, maybe here in St. Petersburg in March, but I’ll also definitely play it in my concert at “Beethoven’s Haus” in Bonn, Germany with Susanne Kessel and Leon Milo as a guest of the Pianowaves ensemble. Susanne and I will also premier another new work of mine, now called “Gymnopaedia” (also Greek), for clarinet and piano-this is a suite of different dances-I seem to rather like dance forms. If I had to be remembered for any contribution to the canon of music, I think that I would want to be remembered for a dance piece, either modern or ballet. As much fun as writing for other forms and media are, this is where I hear my music best.

Well, as I sit here drinking red wine (is there any other kind?), looking out over St. Petersburg, I am thankful for the last few months. I am also excited about the upcoming ones-the concerts, the lectures, the premieres, the traveling, the food…I even get to enjoy a week off in lovely Rome…now, you have to realize that this is the first vacation I have had since 1994-vacations are something that just tend to get in the way or get lost in the planning or shuffle. I need to try and be better about this and take time off-granted, I’ve taken a day or two here and there, but never a week-who knows, I may get used to it…now there’s a New Years’ resolution: learn to take a break! I’ll probably live longer…

I hope that your New Year is filled with Wonder and Beauty!

Yours always,

Demetrius

24 December 2007
Mark Twain
United States of America

Dear Mark,

‘Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse…well, I’m stirring, it seems…it must be all of the mulled wine I consumed this evening…

I’ve been thinking about culture and cultural influences. It’s really quite amazing the number of people that I have interacted with this year, and the various number of backgrounds involved-its really mind boggling! It’s also amazing to see how one’s culture and upbringing really influence one’s art-of course, culture and upbringing are two vastly different things.

I just arrived home from a Christmas Eve party with a group of British ex-pats, all of whom are in the arts one way or another, in particular my friend Marcus T. Heathcock, who is a composer here in St. Petersburg. I’ve noticed that wherever I have traveled and whomever I have been with, I have always been amazed by the similarities of concept and culture of the various people that I meet. I think that if you are in a new situation, surrounded by people of a different culture and society, that it is automatic to instantly look for common ground…not so with the Brits…it’s actually quite amazing, I never feel more foreign and more like an American then when I’m with the Brits! You would think that we would share similar backgrounds and culture-we have a similar (if not exact…and BOY are there differences…) language, and heck, I grew up in New England…lived in Boston, the most Anglophilic city in the US; had afternoon tea, even…but, I think that this assumption of similarities tends to throw one a curve ball (that’s an American baseball reference…Brits don’t have baseball, and I don’t know if cricket has curve balls…). The more you assume likeness, the more your shocked by the differences in culture. It was the same when I attended a British Christmas concert last weekend (where my “Angels Praise Thee” was premiered); the songs, the traditions…all a little foreign where similarity was expected…I, more there then anytime else, felt blatantly American…and a foreigner.

These cultural backgrounds effect how you perceive and create art, as well. Marcus and I have been talking at length about what influenced us growing up and in school, and our backgrounds, even though we’re the same age, are very dissimilar. What was going on in Britain in the 1980s was very different then in the US. For me, the Minimalists were at their peak, and Steve Reich’s “Desert Music” was THE album (LP, that is…) to have. The Academics had lost their sway (mostly) and neo-tonality was in full steam, as was the push towards Totalism and the incorporation of folk idioms, including rock, into classical music. It seems that things were different in Britain, where Academic (serial) was still quite powerful, and it was difficult to rebel against that there.

Of course, my background is considerably different than most: having a jazz/rock background intertwined with my classical gives me a different perspective, as does my Greek heritage. Greece is interesting: it’s Western Europe and the Orient at the same time. Musically, we are pulled between these traditions-Greek classical music, most especially film music and the avant-garde, is equivalent (and in some instances, like Xenakis, superior) to it’s Western counterparts. At the same time, the music is distinctively Oriental in modality and concept, most especially in the folk music, which also creeps it’s way into classical idioms (how can it not?). Greek music in this way is more similar to Persian and Arabic music than to say Italian or German. This gives me a unique perspective on both culture and the arts, being both decisively Western (American) and Oriental (Greek). I see this strongly in my compositions: I have the craft and concept of the West but the soul and philosophy of the Orient. It, for me has been a challenge to come to grips with this dichotomy as both an artist and a person-it’s hard to know sometimes which group you belong to: am I Western or Eastern? An American of Greek descent, or a displaced Western Oriental with American training? I believe that my sense-and comfort-in structured improvisation comes from my Oriental background and the music that I grew up listening to-but my sense of classical structure and form is decidedly Western.

It was funny-when I was Uzbekistan, which, by the way, is in the same musical ‘group’ (Oriental) as Greece-they are the opposite sides, the bookends, West and East-I had an interesting interaction with a student that I was teaching in a composition masterclass. (By the way, by Orient, I mean the area comprising Greece and the Balkans, Egypt, Asia Minor, Persia, and Central Asia to Uzbekistan, but not counting other cultures like Kazakhstan, which are more Far East Asian and linked to that culture). This composition student, who was Tadjik, after I criticized his piece said that my ‘Western ears’ we’re not accustomed to hearing such concepts and that I just didn‘t understand his music…what was that?…my Western ears?…other than almost backhanding the arrogant little turd, which was my first inclination, (but not wanting an international incident, I decided against it), I told him that 1) it was an incredibly ethnocentric comment, especially to a composition teacher in 2007, 2) that I had studied both Arabic and Persian music and that his music (Tadjik, which comes from the Persian tradition) is completely in my knowledge base, 3) that I am of Greek descent and that I know the system of modes and writing because I grew up with very similar music, and 4) that he as a child, (early 20s…a child…) learn to accept criticism and to learn from it!

Here you have a young student who believes instantly that someone of a different background-even though this person has 20 years more experience in the field that the student is studying-obviously can’t comprehend the subtleties of his music. Granted, there are certain things that one’s background that training can’t overcome-this I’ve noticed in Eastern composers handling of classical forms and counterpoint, which is not their tradition, as is Westerns composers dealing with non-western musical sources without understanding their full cultural implication and concepts of musical presentation-but to automatically assume ignorance of a culture and style because of ethnicity is a huge mistake, most especially with modern communication and modes of study. This case, however, the student should know that Greece is the same cultural region as Uzbekistan (and Persia) and understand that there are many similarities-if you’re going to use such material, you have to know all of the sources of it.

Remember, that when you ASSUME, you make an ASS of U and ME…

We have lots to learn from each other, and we may gain a greater understanding of our own culture by doing so. Even better: teach it to someone-you’ll find out how much you actually know, and gain a greater respect from where you came, and where you are going.

Until next time,

Demetrius

SHARE-ST. PETERSBURG; human and laptop jam session; The Place, St. Petersburg, Russia

State Museum of Theatrical and Musical Arts; a concert of solo and chamber works, with baritone Alexander Luckmann; works of Mozart, Schubert, Alex Shapiro, Nickos Harizanos, Peter Fragitas, and others; St. Petersburg, Russia

18 December 2007
Mark Twain
United States of America

Dear Mark,

The days have been very busy as of late, as you may have guessed. I have had a schedule not unlike what I’m used to in the United States: concerts, rehearsals, lectures, recording sessions, meetings; it’s been quite invigorating, most especially since this is occurring 8 times zones from home.

Russians are an interesting breed; I believe that they are, either through nature or nurture (not quite sure which…), ones that need to examine everything in it’s relation to fate and the grand scheme of the cosmos. They seem to have a desire to understand things on a philosophical level, but are also ready to accept what they learn as fate and not to question it’s authority or their given place, be it miniscule, in this universe. This is a very interesting combination for a Westerner like myself, who believes in the exaltation of the individual as the center of one’s universe and creative impetus, to fathom.

Let’s take for instance my recent lectures for the US Consulate. I was asked to present lectures to both Russian students and adults (on different occasions) to discuss with them about American culture. I was to tell them about my career as a composer and performer, and then answer whatever questions they may have about art and music and what not. The questions began almost immediately on very philosophical (if not ‘pop’ philosophical) topics and got deeper and deeper. Questions about my inspirations and psychology as a creative individual (which were scary enough by themselves…) quickly moved to my thoughts on whether good and evil are absolutes and also on antimatter’s influence on disharmony…

…what was that again?…

They also approached it from the point of view that they were lonely humans and that creative people were closer to the divine and must have vastly different lives from themselves that they could never begin to understand. I kept saying “no, really, I’m just like you…” with replies of “no, tell us, do you dream your creations? Or, do you speak to God directly? What is your philosophy on life; tell us so that we may learn?”. Again, I answer “no, really, I’m just a guy. This is my job…it’s what I’m trained to do-it’s hard work, practice, and craftsmanship; I’m just like you-this is just how I not only express myself but also how I earn a living”. And again “but the great masters have been different from us, as you must be…where do you find your greatest inspiration?”. My answer, “the ‘great masters’, as you call them, regardless of the ‘artistic genius’ press, are just people and need to be understood that way, not as gods separated from humanity. Some of the best things I have written came in front of the television watching (American) football and drinking beer-had Beethoven had television, he probably would’ve written the 5th Symphony this way, though maybe not admitted to it-Mozart would not only have admitted to it, he’d be damn proud of the fact!”

This last statement didn’t go over well…I thought I was going to be burned as a heretic…but, they just looked at me, trying to decide if I was hiding something…

Granted, I like talking philosophy, especially if I have a captive audience in a full auditorium listening to everything I’m saying, but please, this was too much…and, after the concert I gave the next week (in the same venue) the crowd pelted me with the same types of questions…some were the same folks, but many were new…they didn’t let me leave until the venue had to be closed for the evening…

“I’m happy that my opinion is so important to you, but you have lives of your own-you’re all individuals, as perfect AND flawed as everyone else on this planet-no one is greater than another-potential is in all.” This, if I may be so bold to say, seems to be the biggest issue of this society: the need to be led and told where they belong. The ‘free thinkers’ tend to be pushed out of society (and run to the West)…these, of course, are the circle of friends which I have found here…the ones who do think as individuals and wish that the vast majority of Russians would follow suit. The potential is marvelous here if they would…as a society, they are most certainly extremely well educated. They just need 10,000cc of Humanism…

Well, speaking of my circles, I have to tell you that I recorded my second CD of the Fall today. The first, as you may remember, was in Athens in October. I recorded a number of new works by Greek composers, led by my friends Nickos Harizanos and Manolis Manousakis. I received the master copy yesterday, and I must say that it sounds good…of course, the music is good, and that helps considerably. I’m looking forward to the finished product!

Today, I recorded with my friend Galina Parfionova. Galina and I have presented some performances together here. She is an Ancient/ Medieval vocalist who specializes in overtone singing, which is really hip! If you want to know what it sounds like when a Russian Medievalist and a Greek-American Experimentalist are locked in a studio together to improvise for an afternoon, you’ll have to listen to the new disc, because words can not begin to explain this…and I tried…we basically took cues from each other, interacted within our individual styles (which are complimentary…more on this later), and just went for it. I did compose two electronic ‘drones’ (based on ‘elemental’ concepts) to use as, well, drones to improvise over, which worked well. It’s interesting: if you take really old music and compare it with really new music, the similarities and parallels are very interesting. These are closer to each other then to anything ‘in between’, like the Common Practice Period, which is really a striking departure and mostly unrelated.

So we edit in two days-should be very hip!

Anyways, that is the story for now. I have to say once again that I am meeting some incredibly interesting people here and am thankful for the opportunity to do so. Everyone whom I have met on a one-on-one basis has been considerably kind and considerate and well-meaning.

To be honest, it does make me thankful for the life that I have in the US (and in the West, in general). I wrote quite a lot on Thanksgiving a couple of weeks back; I don’t know how much we realize just how thankful we should be for our lives and our society. Being here really makes me think about this…constantly…as I walk down the streets of St. Petersburg or read their newspapers…I can only appreciate what I have been blessed with, and be forever thankful.

Until next time,

Demetrius

SHARE-ST. PETERSBURG; human and laptop jam session; The Place, St. Petersburg, Russia.

Premier of my work Angels Praise Thee for female voices; peformed by Second Breath; Agora Art Space, St. Petersburg, Russia.

American Corners, solo performance, sponsored by US State Department; a concert of American composers; works of Carol Alban, Beth Anderson, Denise Broadhurst, Alex Shapiro, Molly Thompson, and myself; Mayakovsky Library, St. Petersburg, Russia.

10 December 2007
Mark Twain
United States of America

Dear Mark,

Well, I had a crazy weekend of lectures and concerts. I was thinking about going into great detail about it, but instead, I think I need to talk about the passing of Stockhausen first, then maybe relate it all back to this weekend (or not…) and maybe, to my creative career as a whole.

Karlheinz Stockhausen…both one of the most important and controversial figures in the arts of the 20th century. Like John Cage, he could, both through his compositions and his speech, bring laudations of genius as well as charges of charlatanism. Considered the most influential German composer since Richard Wagner, his later years were filled with massive self-indulgence and ego-worship that achieved large scale cult status; a harem of women and week long performances (continuously…of only one piece!!!) were considered par for the course. Probably the biggest criticism that can be laid against him was that he began to believe that he was everything everyone said about him: that he was the pinnacle of human creative genius.

Well, I don’t know about that…a genius, perhaps, but when someone is elevated to such stature, and then professes and nurtures that belief about himself, well, there’s a problem there…but regardless, you can’t deny his incredible impact on the artistic world, and I can’t deny his strong influence on me…

My development as a creative artist was an odd one. In high school, I played rock music (on bass guitar…badly), started to get interested in some jazz as a saxophonist, and didn’t really start studying classical music until my senior year; strangely, I was accepted to the New England Conservatory as a classical major-gotta admit, I had a Hell of an audition…anyways, my classmates had a stronger classical background then I, so they were able to wax poetically about Beethoven and Brahms, where I could talk about the Police and Talking Heads. Well, my first semester presented me with an overview music history class-this was where I started to learn my classical music history (which strangely became one of my strong suits, and still is). A lot of what I heard, I liked…a lot bored me to tears, but it was in this class where I first heard Charles Ives’ “Three Places in New England”…blew my MIND…that was it, I was hooked…I didn’t realize then that this was my initiation into the life of an Experimentalist…maybe I fought it then somewhat, but as a performer and composer I had little understanding what this would mean until later-I didn’t realize the total impact and how my life would develop, and who would be the biggest influence.

So, there’s Ives…my spiritual grandfather. The more I understood Ives, the more I understood myself, and I understood what I needed to say. I didn’t just understand Ives musically, but I believe that I started to understand him spiritually. The concepts of New England Transcendentalism, which Ives’ philosophy is steeped in, had completely engulfed me, as well. I understood what he was trying to say, but more so, I understood the implications as a performing improviser, as well as a creative composer…

…which was good, because this prepared me for John Cage…

John Cage was one of the most influential people in the 20th century, hands down. A man both praised for liberating art, and also accused of destroying it. A composer and philosopher whose ideas were based in Eastern Philosophy (not unlike the Transcendentalists) and whose methods of creativity destroyed all boundary’s. Learning about Cage opened my mind…working with him, talking to him, opened more, much more. I understood freedom…Aleatory was interesting: I tried creating randomly, but for me it didn’t work-more philosophical then creative, but I believed that what I was after laid more in Indeterminate music. I loved when the performer, within the piece, helped create the outcome. It wasn’t as random as Aleatory, but every performance differed…I liked that, a lot. But how far could one really take it-I mean it was fun-playing Cage is always fun, an event, but he did it already…where was there to go…?

Enter Mr. Stockhausen…it wasn’t until the end of my Conservatory experience where I started getting into Stockhausen…and he got into me…

Here is where the true concepts of Indeterminate music come to fruition-freedom for the artist, in a strict set of parameters given by the composer-THIS was what I was looking for: the ability to be free within a strong framework. I not only looked at his methods, but I performed his works-I especially loved “Spiral” where I got to interact with a short wave receiver-strict parameters, up to the performer how to interpret them, all based on whatever appeared on the receiver…YES! I have found it! I can combine my need to improvise with my strong love of structure-my classical, jazz, and rock backgrounds have all combined!

I never met Stockhausen…like Ives, I know him only through recordings (not personally like Cage), but I also know him through the many people he has influenced and the many people who have worked with him…the span of comments is amazing, needless to say.

I would have liked to…even during the megalomaniacal last years…after all, it’s Stockhausen, not Cage or Ives, that I owe my Experimentalist writing style to-and my style of playing. In my career, finally, I’ve learned to combine all of my needs by focusing on structured music that gives leeway for improvisation-this is what I like, this what I do-my solo concerts are based in this music-I crave parameters and structure, but I need freedom, which is why I only try and play certain kinds of music now. It’s Stockhausen’s influence that has shown me the way-it is also how I write for myself; be it an electronic landscape, improvisation over drone, or an unaccompanied work, I write in this Indeterminate style, because that is how I can express myself fully…for that, Mr. Stockhausen, I thank you.

Strangely, I do have this dichotomy: I write (and perform!) as an Experimentalist when it’s for me, and I also play experimental music with others…but, when I write for others (orchestra or some such), my music is very conservative…usually, people say “YOU wrote that? It’s so pretty…it’s nothing like the stuff I know you by”…true, maybe it’s the role of a composer to be what he or she needs to be, letting the needs of an ensemble or group determine how and what we write…I can be free with me because I know what I can do…maybe that’s something I need to learn, to trust others and allow them freedom…although many of us seem to be in the same boat, writing what we need to and not what we “need” to, if you catch my drift…

Maybe a little megalomania would help all of us composers a bit more…

Until next time,

Demetrius

SHARE-ST. PETERSBURG; human and laptop jam session; The Place, St. Petersburg, Russia