I invite you to join me in bringing American

music to Central Asia.

I am currently working to establish artistic dialogue between the United States and Tajikistan. This project will include a three-week Artist Residency sponsored by the Bactria Cultural Centre and the US Embassy in Dushanbe (26 April-12 May 2010).

As many of you know, establishing creative international dialogue is the main focus of my career. I believe that cultural diplomacy can lead to mutual understanding and peace between nations. To date, my projects have spanned three continents, including several former Soviet republics and most recently China.

Some information on my current project can be found here:
http://www.dspaneas.com/2010/04/open-…

I have decided to gather partners to help support this endeavor by joining Kickstarter.com, which is a wonderful funding platform for artists to raise awareness, while giving incentives to supporters who take part in these projects.

You can find information about my project here, including ways you can participate:
http://kck.st/caG86z

Please help me spread the word to people who would be interested in creating and supporting cultural dialogue.

Peace,
Demetrius

Spring Wrap-up continues with a performance of my composition Danae’s Dream by the CompCord Ensemble at the Queens New Music Festival on May 18th, which took place at The Secret Theater in Long Island City, NY. The CompCord Ensemble is ensemble-in-residence for the Composers Concordance. Our program was a reprisal of our November show at the Cutting Room in NYC. It is always a great honor to play with such amazing musicians! I was delighted that Danae’s Dream received a second performance this season.

Below are two videos. The first is a solo improvisation that I gave before Danae’s Dream; the second is the piece itself.

There will be one more installment of ‘Wrap-up’…hoping to post in the next day or so. I have lots of current and *special* news to share. But all is good time!

Until soon,

Demetrius

Spring Wrap-up continues with 3 premieres of my after Calder on the same day in both NYC and Koper, Slovenia!

As part of a joint venture between the Koper Music School and my newly formed organization CITEarts (more on *that* later ;)), we coordinated performances on April 12th to happen simultaneously at the Firehouse Space in Brooklyn and at the 4th International Biennale of Contemporary Music held at the Koper Music School. the collaboration consisted of the music of both Slovenian and American composers (including Stuart Diamond, Sandra Sprecher, and your truly) performed in both locations.

The American composers’ music was performed by students of the Koper Music School. I can’t tell you how wonderful it is not only to get great international performances by such young and talented music students, but also because my piece after Calder was performed TWICE on the Koper concert by 2 different ensembles: it opened and closed it!

After Calder is an indeterminate work, so that every performance will be different, dependent upon the instrumentation and real-time choices of the performers. It is inspired by the mobiles of Alexander Calder, and the music is to have the effect of a mobile suspended and spinning.

Below are videos of the three premieres–one in NYC by me and friends, the other two in Slovenia–that happened on April 12. Notice the uniqueness of each interpretation!

Spring Wrap-up will continue shortly…

Until soon,

Demetrius

NYC premiere

1st Slovenia premiere

2nd Slovenia premiere

Spring Wrap-up continues in March with the premiere of my composition As If… for choir and orchestra by the Polymnia Choral Society, Murray Kidd conducting.

I wrote both the text and music for this work, something that I intend on exploring more and more with my upcoming vocal projects. It was a delight and absolute joy to hear this piece brought to life in such an amazing way.

I am sharing the video of the premiere. Fair warning: I do speak quite a bit before the piece begins…you all know what THAT means

Under the video will be my text, so you can follow along.

Spring Wrap-up will continue next with some international news from April!

Until soon,

Demetrius

“As If…”
Words and Music by Demetrius Spaneas
Premiere by the Polymnia Choral Society
Murray Kidd, conducting
St. Mary’s Church, Melrose, MA
March 8, 2014

Text:
As if the river’s run was not as swift
as to make the sun’s light glimmer
As if the breeze was not so gentle
as to caress the willow’s shape

Tonight the air is as still as Death
yet the persuasive sounds of Life persist
to rhyme and sing to me in the Dark
as if voices from

many lives Past

As if the moonlit night was not so docile
as to lull my Love to sleep
As if the coming Dawn was not so forceful
as to awaken the river banks to Joy

Today the sun warms my mouth
and the scent of new grass fills my Being
I stand unbound within the glorious moment
and embrace the Love of many lives Past

Here is the first ‘Spring Wrap-Up’ post, this one focusing on my January 16 concert at Spectrum which was affiliated with the Chamber Music America national conference in NYC. The concert included music by my friends William Susman and Preston Stahly as well as two pieces of mine: Autumn Yearning for clarinet, viola, and piano and the US premiere Citiscapes for clarinet and violin. The latter piece was premiered in Kazan, Tatarstan, Russia in 2007, but never done here.

I was honored to play with two of my all-time favorite musicians! Karen Bentley Pollick on violin and viola, and Elaine Kwon on piano.

So…here are two videos of the performance. The first is Autumn Yearning, the second Cityscapes.

ENJOY!

Autumn Yearning

Cityscapes

I am writing to share some news and a new video:

November 10 was the premiere of my Danae’s Dream with the Comp Cord Ensemble at The Cutting Room. It was an amazing experience playing with such brilliant musicians! I set up the performance with a little unaccompanied improvisation:

Comp Cord Ensemble

Bill Schimmel

– accordion,
Demetrius Spaneas – soprano sax
Milica Paranosic – vocals
Gene Pritsker – electric guitar
Dan Cooper – 7-string bass guitar
David Rozenblatt – drums
Peter Jarvis – vibes

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Next on the list is another premiere, also in coordination with Composers Concordance as part of their Timbre Tantrum festival. My new work, Bonfire of the Manatees for baritone sax and 7-string bass guitar, will be presented on the final concert of the festival on December 8 at Drom.

Below are links to both the festival site and the Facebook event.

http://composersconcordance.wix.com/2013-14season#!tt-festival/cj5l

https://www.facebook.com/events/534959649918847/539902426091236/?notif_t=plan_mall_activity

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And finally, December 10 will be our annual fall semester Evening of Jazz at Five Towns College in which I conduct the Jazz Orchestra in a selection of big band favorites, both standard and modern. However, this year will be special because it will feature the debut of the FTC Faculty Trio, which includes Stephen Gleason on guitar and vocals, Scott Ballin on piano, and yours truly on tenor saxophone. We will also have a special guest singer to round out the excitement!

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I want to thank you all again for your continued support!

Until soon,

Demetrius

I have uploaded five videos from ‘KAZAAM! love songs, recollections, and contemporary improvisations,’ my annual tour with the brilliant pianist Jeffrey Goldberg. These were from the last show of the tour, which was at the Cornelia Street Cafe in NYC on August 9.

The show, which is completely improvised, including being inspired by audience suggestions, has become one of my all time favorite musical experiences.

These selected  videos are from a live stream from Gander.TV; the link to the entire show is here: http://www.gander.tv/event/cornelia-street-cafe-kazaam-love-songs-recollections-89-6pm-8pm

Enjoy!!!!!!!!

Demetrius

Happy November!

Writing today to share some news about some happenin’ happenings.

On Sunday, November 10, I will be performing with the Comp Cord Ensemble at the Cutting Room, in NYC. The ensemble will premiere my new work Danae’s Dream, which was written for the ensemble for this performance. I am delighted to have the opportunity of writing for and playing with this amazing collection of musicians.

Composers Concordance is a presenting organization for contemporary music with a 29-year-history of producing concerts in New York City. It strives to present music in innovative ways, with an emphasis on thematic programming. The Comp Cord Ensemble expands on this objective by focusing on the composer-as-performer within an ensemble setting. Each project asks the selected musicians to contribute compositions based on a particular subject or instrumentation, with an emphasis on experimentation and creating music for the particular members of each program. In recent years, the ensemble, in its various forms, has performed at The American Museum of Natural History, Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition, Shapeshifter Lab, and Turtle Bay Music school, among others. Since 2010, it has been the resident ensemble at William Paterson University.

– Comp Cord Ensemble –
Bill Schimmel – accordion
Demetrius Spaneas – soprano sax
Milica Paranosic – vocals/keys/electronics
Jacob Miller – poet/narrator
Gene Pritsker – electric guitar
Dan Cooper – 7-string bass guitar
Peter Jarvis – vibraphone/percussion
David Rozenblatt – drums

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This year marks the 5th in a row that I have been awarded an ASCAPlus Award by the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers. As an artist who has many performances in ‘alternative’ venues as well as standard ones, it is wonderful to be recognized for the scope of my performances and programming of my works across many genres and countries. A warm thank you to the ASCAPlus awards panel for this honor and for your continued gracious recognition.

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And…yes…it is *finally*, FINALLY happening!

After many months of the tracks sitting in ‘the can,’ I am moving forward with producing my new CD, the 4th under my own name, but the first that will consist *entirely* of my own compositions. The new CD, entitled Double Life, will contain solo works that I perform on many of my concerts, like Three Graces for Clarinet Solo, Soho Sophisticate, and my unaccompanied suite …no longer to his father… (the latter two on tenor saxophone), as well as two chamber works: Gymnopaedia for clarinet and piano (with pianist Elaine Kwon) and Giuffre Sketches for clarinet/tenor sax/baritone sax and piano (with pianist Jed Distler).

The CD was recorded in 2012 by John Kilgore, and will be released on 4Tay Records, projected for spring, 2014. I’m in the process of thinking about the design and CD cover, which for me is great fun as well as a crazed process…

…you know, I still feel it’s important for a musician to have a physical CD, even in the digital age. It may sound counter-intuitive, but today the physical product–especially for classical and jazz musicians–is just as important as ever to send out for reviews and festivals and donating to schools and libraries. Plus, and I admit this fully, I am of that generation who grew up with double fold-out LP covers…I *like* the artwork; it draws you in or pushes you away…plus, because of being the age that I am, I like the idea of the physicality of it, and holding it, and saying “I MADE THIS!!!”

Plus an mp3 looks terrible wrapped up as a gift, no?

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Anyways, thank you for indulging me in presenting this news. Be as sure as snow in New England that the next blog will contain my musings about some injustice or philosophy or other musing. But, for now, a little happenin’ happenings.

Until soon…

Demetrius

I am delighted that I will be the soloist in my own concerto Three Dialogues for Saxophone and Orchestra with The Plymouth Philharmonic Orchestra, Steven Karidoyanes conducting, on October 5, 2013 at 8PM at Memorial Hall, Plymouth, MA.

Also on the program are John Williams’ Liberty Fanfare, Shostakovitch Festive Overture, Respighi’s Pines of Rome, and Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue!

Details can be found here:
http://www.plymouthphil.org/plymouth-philharmonic-concert-1.asp

Jeffrey Goldberg and I had our final show of our Northeast tour on Friday at the wonderful Cornelia Street Cafe in Greenwich Village. Jeffrey has left for Germany, so I won’t see him again until our next Northeast tour, which will be summer 2014.

However, we have some great memories of traveling and playing together, from Vermont to Cambridge to NYC. Met new people and made new friends, which is what playing music is really all about: communication.

So, I want to share a couple of things with you.

My friend Allison Ahearn, a wonderful professional photographer in the Greater Boston area, snapped a couple of shots during our Lily Pad performance in Cambridge: one during, one afterwards:

And…the Cornelia Street Cafe in conjunction with Gander TV is now live-streaming their shows. Our final concert was live-streamed and documented. If you missed us, or wish to relive our live concert experience, you can watch the show here:

http://www.gander.tv/event/cornelia-street-cafe-kazaam-love-songs-recollections-89-6pm-8pm

Thank you all again for your interest and support. I will be writing soon about upcoming events and of course, my extemporaneous musings.

Until soon,

Demetrius