Happy Halloween,

I am in the mood today to muse about my current state of creative satisfaction. Considering the tremendous amount of work piled on me lately–most especially for my new teaching gig at Five Towns College–I am completely satisfied at the amount of creative work that I have been able to ‘churn out’. I think that I am one of those people–actually, I know I am–that not only thrives under pressure, but actually accomplishes more the more that I have to do. In other words, I function best in ‘overdrive’.

I wonder if I would actually do anything if I went to an artist residency to create freely…I like the pressure of deadlines…I like the pressure of, if not really the impossible, than the improbable, goal…maybe I find it challenging…maybe I just find it fun…

I am most satisfied with two new compositions that I have completed in the last few weeks. Both are large works, and both have their premiers coming soon–again, the inspiration of the deadline.

The first is a collaboration with sculptor Laura Evans. Laura and I have created a project entitled Corpus Apparatus. This work is a visual/sonic installation that will be presented as both a featured work in Laura’s show at the Boston Sculptors Gallery from March 15 to April 17, 2011, and as a featured work for the TransCultural Exchange 2011 Conference on International Opportunities in the Arts: The Interconnected World, April 7-10, 2011. My music is an acousmatic (electronic music, created in the studio and using as source material recordings of me created specifically for this) piece which will emanate from within the sculpture.

Here are the program notes on the project:

Corpus Apparatus will take the form of a physical and sonic sculptural installation that utilizes both biological and mechanical elements. The physical form of the sculpture evokes a human heart–the basis of our humanity, but also a powerful machine. Elements recalling machinery and technology invade the humanity of this heart–an evolution, or a perversion? In Corpus Apparatus, sound will provide an important level of psychological stimulus to suggest this altered reality. As the sculpture itself is a blending of human and mechanical, sound emanating from the sculpture will create a constant flow between these two extremes. To create this acousmatic piece, I have recorded myself in the studio vocalizing and playing flute, alto flute, tenor saxophone, and Pamiri (Tajik) nai; these recordings are my complete source material for the work.

The other major work finished this fall is a piece that will have its premier on December 5, 2010 at New York City’s Cornelia Street Cafe, as part of the Composers Collaborative, Inc. Serial Underground series. I have the pleasure of being a Resident Artist for this series for the second consecutive year. The new work, entitled Giuffre Sketches, will be performed by me on clarinet, tenor and baritone saxophones, and CCi’s Artistic Director Jed Distler on piano.

Here are the program notes:

Giuffre Sketches is dedicated to the memory of my teacher, jazz musician and composer Jimmy Giuffre, who passed in 2008. It uses motives and phrases from some of Jimmy’s lesser-known compositions as source material for both the written and improvisational elements. The work also uses two well-known pieces that are interwoven to create a structural element: the folk song The Train and the River, and Jimmy Van Heusen’s Darn That Dream. Both of these pieces have special meanings for me, most especially the Van Heusen, which was the basis for one of my first conceptual epiphanies while I was working with Jimmy.

Finally, I also was delighted to release as a single my composition Spoken Origins, for alto saxophone and electronics, on October 14. I composed and recorded this work in Russia in 2008, but was reluctant to include it as part of a collection of works–it just didn’t seem to fit with the spirit of other works that I recorded at that time, most of which being film/animation scores and more Postmodern electro-acoustic works. It needed a life of its own.

Here are the program notes:

Entirely based on Ancient philosophy, the piece presents different phases in humanity’s evolution, which are represented by themes both Ancient and Modern, as well as events that evoke specific images, such as Russian Orthodox church bells.

Spoken Origins may be purchased at CD Baby, Amazon, and eventually on iTunes, Napster, and other digital distributors (within the next weeks).

So, all in all, it has been a very creative fall, and a very creative and satisfying 2010 in general. I will go more into detail on 2010 in a few weeks when I give my written assessment of the year and discuss my upcoming projects in 2011.

Thank you all again for your support!

Demetrius

Dear All,

It is with great pleasure that I announce the premier of my piece Romance and Rondo for trumpet, English horn, and piano. The piece, written for and performed by Geoffrey and Laura Shamu, will be presented at the the Community Music Center of Boston‘s Allen Hall on November 4, 2010 at 7PM.

I wrote this piece as a gift for the celebration of Geoffrey and Laura’s wedding in 2007.

But that’s not where the story begins…

Time travel, to (approximately) 1989…I was an undergraduate at Boston’s New England Conservatory of Music, and a budding composer. One of my closest friends in those days was a trumpeter by the name of Eric Berlin. Eric is currently the trumpet teacher at University of Massachusetts, Amhearst, the Principal Trumpet for the Albany Symphony, and one of the busiest trumpeters in New England; he’s also an amazing musician and a great guy.

Now, over one of the summers during undergrad, Eric participated in the Pierre Monteux School program. One of the instructors, in wanting to get Eric to play with unbridled expression, asked him to think about a woman and to give her a name, then to sing to her. He came up with the name ‘Laura’, and put words to the trumpet solo, declaring his love and intentions. From what he said, the difference was miraculous.

Eric, coming back from the program, tells me this story. I (as budding composer) decides (fruitlessly…) that this can be the beginning of a rock-opera. I was at that time fascinated by the Orpheus and Eurydice story, and wanted to create an updated version in a modern setting. I titled the new project Jamie and Laura, and worked on it for the better part of that year.

Well, an opera–even a rock one–is something that a budding composer in his early 20′s probably shouldn’t be tackling; after working through a few arias, I ‘tabled’ the project…I came back to it a few times, but never seriously. However, there was one aria whose melody continued to haunt me: this was the first piece of the project that I wrote, the one inspired by Eric’s story and that took the words almost verbatim from the text he added to the trumpet solo at the summer program…I titled this aria For Laura.

Fast forward to 2007. Geoffrey (who, by the way, is my brother-in-law) and Laura decide to get married. I can’t attend the wedding because I am touring the Balkans (I think specifically playing in Bulgaria) that day. But, as a gift, I decide to write them a piece.

Guess what melody starts to creep into my consciousness…?

The Romance and Rondo became in its own way a nostalgic look at my past. The Romance is the For Laura theme; I didn’t change it very much, and it keeps its 70′s pop-ballad feel that I knew from my youth. Of course, Laura plays that melody–here on English horn.

All of my friends in undergrad were trumpet players–I just get along well with brass players, in general. I never jived with woodwind players as a student; brass players drank beer and watched football…woodwind players just whined a lot. I hung with the brass guys. Plus, since I played a lot of baritone sax back then–which they thought was cooler than any of the ‘wimpy’ woodwind instruments–they made me an ‘unofficial’ brass player.

That being said, needless to say, I was inundated with trumpet repertory. I am probably the only reed player who can sing the main themes to every major piece in the trumpet solo and orchestral rep. I also heard a lot of Herbert Clarke cornet solos. The Rondo is my version of a Clarke cornet solo, with just a touch of ‘rock-opera’ left over from days gone by…the opening piano part is reminiscent of Jerry Lee Lewis, and the fugue (ish) ‘C” section recalls the fascination of my Conservatory days with Bach (I went so far as to study Baroque interpretation with Daniel Pinkham, but that is a story for another time…).

But this piece, even though it obviously evokes my youth and is full of nostalgia, is a piece of celebration. It is not a ‘high-minded’ work by any stretch of the imagination, nor one that pines on lost youth, but one that celebrates the joy of life.

We forget sometimes as ‘artists’ that art has to effect us on a basic level. This piece is all about that; its purpose is to bring a smile. That’s it, pure and simple.

Demetrius

Dear Friends,

It is with great excitement that I announce the release of my new single Spoken Origins. This work for alto saxophone and electronics and composed in 2008, has become one of my most successful and most programmed and asked for pieces. I decided that it needed to have life outside of live performance; the single can now be downloaded at CD Baby, and will soon be available at iTunes, Napster, Amazon, Rhapsody, and many other digital music distributors.

Here are my program notes on the piece:

Entirely based on Ancient philosophy, the piece presents different phases in humanity’s evolution, which are represented by themes both Ancient and Modern, as well as events that evoke specific images, such as Russian Orthodox church bells.

You can preview and download the track here:

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/demetriusspaneas

Thank you all for your continued support!

With warmest regards,

Demetrius

Spoken Origins

Dear All,
Just a reminder about my solo concert on Sunday, October 17th, at 3PM at MCC’s Federal Building Assembly Room, Lowell, MA. Getting some great press for the hometown event!

https://sp.middlesex.mass.edu/pressreleases/Announcements/DispForm.aspx?ID=670

http://www.middlesex.mass.edu/events/wom/

http://calendar.boston.com/lowell-ma/events/show/145760045-improvisations-for-saxophone

http://www.cometolowell.com/pdfs/MCC_SaxophoneConcert.pdf

http://eventful.com/lowell/events/demetrius-spaneas-/E0-001-034430843-8

http://www.thevalleydispatch.com/ci_16287756?IADID=Search-www.thevalleydispatch.com-www.thevalleydispatch.com

Also, the night before (October 16) I have been invited as special guest for the Jazz Harvest, happening at Cavaliero’s Restaurant, also in Lowell!

Jazz Harvest

This event has been getting great press on the local radio station, WCAP.
Hoping to see some of you there for my homecoming!

Best always,
Demetrius

Hi All,

I decided to post a few pictures from the Best Buddies fundraiser concert at Carnegie Hall. In these photos: Enrique Pina, Elaine Kwon, and The New York Chamber Virtuosi; all photos, save the last and the flier, by Akabueze Kamau. I hope you enjoy!

Demetrius

Me playing solo

Me conducting tenor Enrique Pina; Puccini

Me conducting pianist Elaine Kwon; Rubinstein

Me conducting pianist Elaine Kwon; Rubinstein

Me, after the concert at reception

Concert Flier

Dear Friends,

Please join me for a ‘homecoming’ concert in the city of my youth.

Improvisations for Saxophone
Noted saxophonist/composer Demetrius Spaneas, former MCC music faculty member and Lowell native, will perform solo improvisations ranging in styles from jazz to classical to world music. He also will perform some of his original compositions. Interwoven throughout the performance will be tales of his recent musical travels to Central Asia.
3 p.m. • Sunday, Oct. 17
Federal Building Assembly Room, Lowell Campus

http://www.middlesex.mass.edu/events/WOM/

Playing in Quba, Azerbaijan