2010 was quite a year for me, mostly due to all of its surprises. It’s very funny…in retrospect, I smile at the way that I looked at 2010 at this point in 2009: a period of consolidation and documenting past works and recordings and figuring out the next move(s). I wasn’t sure what was going to happen professionally with the world financial crisis, and I didn’t know where I may be living come fall.

At this point in 2009, I hadn’t decided to release Sfumato (or anything else) and I didn’t have any international traveling planed. Needless to say, this changed rapidly and drastically.

Since I brought up Sfumato by name first, I may as well start with that. The idea to finally move forward with this project hit me in 2009 around, oh, now. It had been sitting on my desk (and desktop) for almost two years–I couldn’t think about what to do with it. Initial explorations found record companies interested in producing it, but for far more money than I wanted to spend on it. The issue was that I didn’t know what to do with it: it was a one-time recording, my collaborator was in Russia, so I couldn’t tour with it or use it for festivals; also, I really wasn’t sure what category it fit in…classical? not really; jazz? not at all; new age? maybe…I didn’t know what the audience would be.

So, I did what I considered to be the most reasonable thing: I created my own record label (DSM) and produced it myself. This was a lot of work, let me tell you…and even though it cost me literally 1/10 of what it would have to go through a record company, I paid for it in administrative work and publicity.

And, I had the release concert at the All Gallery in my home town of Lowell, MA. I wanted to do that for the city and for the arts scene there. I could have easily done it in NYC, but this felt right. Plus, I paired it with a talk to arts student at my Alma mater, Lowell High School.

But I’m glad I did it. It has been successful, and it is still selling–there will even be another publicity push early in the New Year, but that’s news for later. And, I now have a vehicle to produce other recordings, such as my single Spoken Origins that I released in October. More are coming in 2011.

Travel was a surprise, too. It was really around this time last year that I connected with the Bactria Cultural Centre in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. I was invited to be Artist-in-Residence for the 2nd Dushanbe Jazz Festival. This opportunity also coincided with my desire to promote cultural diplomacy in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, which I have been working on for the past few years.

As it turned out, the we did not get the funding needed to make this happen, so I started a Kickstarter project to help fund this. Many people seemed to think that cultural diplomacy and bringing jazz and American culture to the far reaches of the globe was a worthy cause, so we were successful.

The U.S. Embassies, who have been my collaborators in my outreach projects, were able to support me somewhat for this project. They brought me down into the countryside and up into the Pamiri mountains and along the Afghanistan border, meeting villagers and musicians and working with children. The Embassy in Baku was so interested in what I was doing that I immediately got an invitation to go directly to Azerbaijan from Tajikistan to do the same work there. A final stop and concert in Riga, Latvia by invitation and support by the Embassy there rounded out an amazing month of travel, concerts, and life experiences.

Amazingly, in Baku, I met a Polish pianist named Stanislaw Deja. We ended up playing an improvisation together–very off the cuff–of Somewhere Over The Rainbow, and he immediately invited me to Poland to perform a ‘Jazz Mozart’ concert with him at the Mozartiana Festival in Gdansk, Poland in August. I went. It was a great success!

Throughout the year, I had some great domestic solo performances, as well. I had two fantastic performances as Resident Artist for the Composers Collaborative Inc. Serial Underground Series: one for the 2009-10 Season, and one for the 2010-11 season, although both happened within the 2010 calender.

Probably the most fun concert I gave was half as a jazz soloist, and half as a classical conductor. I participated in the Best Buddies Carnegie Hall Fundraiser Concert. The first half had me playing an improvisation on–yes again–Somewhere Over The Rainbow (I like this song…), while the second half gave me the great opportunity to conduct my great friend and colleague and brilliant pianist  Elaine Kwon in the Rubinstein Piano Concerto No. 4, leading the New York Chamber Virtuosi. The fundraiser was a great success!

This was a great year for achievement in composing. For the second year in a row, I was recognized with the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers ASCAPlus Award, and I was a recipient of the American Music Center’s CAP Award. I had a number of pieces performed and recorded, and commissions for new works that came into being for upcoming seasons.

I also finally figured out youtube and twitter and all of their myriad possibilities. Come join me there!

Amongst the biggest news was my appointment as Assistant Professor of Music at Five Towns College, and my move back to NYC from Boston. My career has been centered in NYC for years–it was only a matter of time until I would return here. I feel at home.

So, all in all, 2010 was a pleasant surprise–heck, it was an amazing year! I don’t know what 2011 will bring. In a few days, I will write about what I have planed, and what I am setting into motion.

Only time will tell…

Yours always,

Demetrius

Dear All,

I have posted a video of my piece Church Mosaic from my 2010 CD Sfumato with vocalist Galina Parfenova.

The video consists of images of Roman and Byzantine Christian frescoes, icons, and mosaics.

Church Mosaic and Sfumato available at:
CD Baby
Amazon
iTunes

I hope you enjoy it!

Yours,

Demetrius

Hello All,

I’m posting a series of black and white ‘jazz photos’ that I just received from my performance in Gdansk, Poland this summer. I am thinking about using one or two as either a new publicity shot or as an album cover (or both!). Suggestions are most welcome.

Yours,

Demetrius

Dear All,

It is with great pleasure that I announce that I have been honored with the CAP Grant Award by the American Music Center to produce and present my acousmatic work Corpus Apparatus.

The purpose of the Composer Assistance Program grant is to give ‘direct, project-based assistance to help (composers) realize their music in performance’.

Corpus Apparatus, a collaboration with Boston-based sculptor Laura Evans, will take the form of 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.

I can’t thank the American Music Center enough for this honor and opportunity.

Warmly,

Demetrius

Dear All,

I am writing to inform you about Women’s Work: a NYC-based concert series that promotes the music of women composers, both new and historic.

This series has been held at Greenwich House in NYC throughout its existence. Due to the House’s restructuring and changes in funding, the concert series is no longer receiving support and must raise funds for the 2011 season; due to the late notice of canceled support, all of the deadlines for other funding sources were missed.

The main issue is the renting of the performance space. I have offered my services to present a solo concert, regardless if enough funds are raised to pay for it. This series has not only become a fixture in the NYC music scene, but is a venue for the presentation of music that may not have any other outlet.

Please consider supporting this wonderful project.

Regards always,
Demetrius

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Read about the project here:

https://www.fracturedatlas.org/s/campaign/151?preview=1

Watch the video:

Dear All,

Mainly, I am writing to let you know that due to unforeseen circumstances, my new work Giuffre Sketches will not be premiered on Sunday, December 5th, at Cornelia Street Cafe. Instead, I will be playing an extended solo set which will include my multi-movement piece …no longer to his father… in–as always with this ever-evolving work–a new incarnation. CCi Serial Underground.

A reminder for those in the Boston area: On Saturday, December 4th, my work Angels Praise Thee will be performed by the Polymnia Choral Society under the direction of Murray Kidd at the First Congregational Church in Melrose. I am truly grateful to Murray for continuing to program this work with various choral groups across New England. Thank you.

In stupidly ridiculous news, it appears that SAS (Scandinavian Airlines) will no longer allow violins or other stringed instruments as carry-on luggage; now they must be checked as baggage and the owner will be charged an extra baggage fee for their priceless Stradivaria to be crushed in the hold…

And finally, a big shout-out to the student newspaper at Five Towns College–The Record–for publishing a full-page interview with me as the ‘new kid in town’ of the faculty.

Thank you all again for your continued support.

With warmest regards,

Demetrius

Performance at Cornelia St. Cafe, April, 2010