This past weekend,  myself and my fellow Con Edison/Exploring the Metropolis Composers-in-Residence were featured in a new festival entitled Exploring New Composers; this took place at LaGuardia Performing Arts Center in Long Island City on May 11 and 12.

The May 11 concert featured some wonderful music by composers Ron Tucker and Raphael Fusco, and my participation in the May 11 concert was as a flutist performing the works of my good friend (and wonderful composer!) Paul Yeon Lee.

I wanted to share a video of us performing Paul’s Scattered Wind on that concert. This work was originally written for daegeum and piano, but Paul arranged it for me to play on alto flute (with him on piano).

Paul was also gracious enough to film the performance of my music on the following night, May 12. I will post comments on that concert–and that video–within the next few days.

Thank you and until then,

Demetrius

On May 11-12 will be presented the first Exploring New Composers Festival, which will feature the 2011-12 Con Edison/Exploring the Metropolis NYC Composers-in-Residence.

On May 11, I will be performing the music of my good friend Paul Yeon Lee. I will play his Sanjo for solo flute and his Scattered Wind for alto flute (originally Korean daegeum) and piano. Both of these haunting pieces are influenced by Korean traditional music.

May 12 will feature my music. I will be joined by the ensemble Wolf’s Gang (Alexandra Honigsberg, viola, and Jed Distler, piano, and yours truly) in a performance of my Autumn Yearning for clarinet, viola, and piano. This work is based on a traditional Chinese folk song that tells the story of a young woman taken from her family to a far-off location and new husband…she yearns for her family and home during the fall season.

I will also perform my Three Graces for Clarinet Solo on this concert.

Here I am performing this work at the Cornelia Street Cafe:

The Festival will take place at the LaGuardia Performing Arts Center in Long Island City, NY.

All shows begin at 8PM, tickets may be purchased here.

My concert is part of Chamber Music America’s National Chamber Music Month.

Please join us for this amazing new music event!

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On May 8th, I will be leading the Five Towns College Swing Band and Jazz Orchestra in ‘An Evening of Jazz,’ a concert of music ranging from classic big band fare to modern works. At the Dix Hills Performing Arts Center at 7:30.

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Thank you all again for your continued support!

Demetrius

“It’s May, it’s May…the lusty month of May…”

(…well, you know the rest…)

I’m delighted to tell you all about three performances of my music this week, in New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts.

On May 2nd, the Five Towns College Wind Ensemble, under the direction of my good friend, Dean Karahalis, will be perform my Prayer and Passion. Professor Karahalis kindly asked me to conduct the performance, which I am delighted to do. The piece was premiered by the Northeastern University Concert Band in 2009. The concert will be at 7PM at the Dix Hills Performing Arts Center.

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On May 5 will begin the Hartford New Music Festival at the Charter Oak Cultural Center in Hartford, CT. One of the featured events will be the presentation of New Media New Music New England‘s (NMNMNE) “What If?” project, in which 60 second videos are randomly set to 60 seconds of music. This project premiered in 2009 and has been presented at numerous galleries and festivals. My electronic piece The Ballad of Olga D. is one of the works in the project..

If you want to see how the project works–or can’t get to Hartford–just click this link for the “What If?” project...hours of fun!!!

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And, finally, on May 6 my friend, the wonderfully talented pianist Judith Gordon, will premiere my new work for solo piano, Gentle Rain, for a special invitation-only event in support of the Lander-Grinspoon Academy in Northampton, MA. This piece will be a part of a new solo program of new and old waltzes that she will perform the evening of May 6 and in subsequent concerts.

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As a quick aside, I will also be playing some jazz flute (pronounce it yazz…it’s funnier) with my fantastic and talented colleague Peter Rogine as his Five Towns College Guitar Ensemble on May 3rd.

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Stay tuned to news about the Exploring the Composers festival next week at LaGuardia Performing Arts Center. Until then, thank you all again for your continued support.

Demetrius

Needless to say, if any of my colleagues need a new website, Maureen is the one to talk to…

I will be posting a May update shortly since May is going to be one of those amazing months where I have so many performances in rapid succession that my head will be in constant spin mode…but in the meantime, I wanted to share a video I made in honor of Earth Day set to Consecration of the Earth from my CD Sfumato.

Until soon…enjoy!

Demetrius

As you know, last week I traveled to Rome for the premiere of my chamber piece Love Letters in the Ether (flute, soprano sax, violin, cello, piano 4-hands) by the fantastic young ensemble Piccola Accademia degli Specchi (PADS) on April 4th. This group has begun to take the European contemporary music scene by storm, and is in the initial planning stages for a North American tour. It was really a delight to work with dynamic musicians who are intent on playing living composers.

The concert was held at the Compagnia per la Musica di Roma to an invitation-only audience of Rome’s most important artists and art patrons. The concert featured all music by living composers from America and Italy. A very diverse and engaging program. It’s actually very interesting to hear music by countrymen who share the same aesthetic concepts and are from (approximately) the same generation. The pieces were related, but not stagnant. It was a wonderful program.

Aside from me, other composers in attendance were also my great friend and brilliant colleague William Susman, the wonderful Italian composer Francesco di Fiore (a twitter friend whom I finally met), and PADS’ dynamic music director, composer/mathematician/impresario Matteo Sommacal. All four of us had premieres; all rocked the house.

The setting was incredible…I mean, wow…this was a private space with marble floors and covered in original art, many pieces from the Baroque and late Renaissance…I mean, wow…the photos below will give you an idea…

Also, there was both an audio recording and video taken; I will post/share these as soon as I get them.

Since I was there a whole 60 hours, I really didn’t sleep, nor did I want to. I spent the the day following the concert walking around Rome, which is really my favorite European city. I took some photos which I also shared below–not too many, but I had to play tourist a little

Again, a wonderful, wonderful artistic experience. I thank Matteo and PADS again for this wonderful opportunity and for their interest in many future collaborations.

Until soon,

Demetrius

Bill and I on Via Aurelia

Compagnia per la Musica di Roma 1

Compagnia per la Musica di Roma 2

Compagnia per la Musica di Roma 3

Compagnia per la Musica di Roma 4

Dress rehearsal

4 composers post concert: Matteo, Bill, me, Francesco

PADS and Composers, celebrating

Piazza del Popolo

Spanish Steps

Love the streets in this city

One of the many amazing fountains, this one at Piazza della Republica

Money shot, Trajan's Column

View down Via Nationale

Colloseum

Lovely little fountain in Monte

A street in Monte

It has been such a whirlwind time with NYC concerts and traveling to Rome (which I will discuss next blog) that I am just getting around to announcing the re-release of my 2003 CD When Wind Comes To Sparse Bamboo on March 27, 2012!

Here is the official press release from PARMA Recordings:

In 2008 PARMA Recordings acquired Capstone Records, the highly respected New York-based classical label founded by composer Richard Brooks in 1986, with the intent of shepherding the company and its music into the digital era. “When Wind Comes To Sparse Bamboo,” originally released on Capstone and now presented by PARMA’s Ravello Records imprint, is one of a series of re-releases from the catalog called THE CAPSTONE COLLECTION.

They changed the cover, which I’m getting used to…it is pretty sleek, although I do have a certain nostalgic love for the original.

The Old, from 2003:

Original 2003 release on Capstone Records

The New, from 2012:

New release on Ravello's (PARMA) 'Capstone Collection'

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OK, the new one is hip…

That being said, the new one is available for download at places like Classics Online, emusic, Amazon, and many other online locations; it is also available to listen to on the Naxos Music Library site.

And hey…if you want a physical copy and dig the old cover, please purchase that directly from me here.

Needless to say, I’m delighted that this, my first solo CD, is getting new life almost 10 years after its release; I hope this new life is a long (and fruitful) one.

Thank you all again for your support!

Until soon,

Demetrius

It is with delight that I share with you the news that my composition Love Letters in the Ether will be premiered by the wonderful Rome-based ensemble Piccola Accademia Degli Specchi (PADS) at the beautiful Compagnia per la Music di Roma on April 4th.

This large chamber work–which is in essence a commentary on relationships in the Digital Age–was commissioned by PADS for the instrumental combination of flute, soprano saxophone, violin, cello, and piano four-hands. PADS focuses on the music of American Minimalist/Post-Minimalist composers (which is *amazing* for a European ensemble). The concert will also feature the music of my friend, California composer William Susman; we will both be in attendance for this concert.

And I can’t begin to tell you how much I love traveling as only a composer–no instruments to deal with…which can be a logistical nightmare, as you all know or can guess…and Rome is such an amazing city.

Of course, it appears that I’m staying near the Vatican, and it is Holy Week; could be…interesting

Here is a video of PADS performing Facades by Philip Glass:

Arrivederci!

Demetrius

“BARRED MUSIC”
to celebrate “Shakespeare’s Fools’ Day”
with readings by
Paul Hecht
and
Roberta Maxwell

Original music composed and performed by
multi-reed wizard
Demetrius Spaneas
with guest pianist
Jed Distler

ROBERTA MAXWELL: Broadway: Our Town, Equus, Othello, Henry V. Off-Broadway: CSC, The Public Theater, MTC. Regional: Hartford Stage, Long Wharf, Mark Taper Forum, The Old Globe, Guthrie Theater, Alley Theatre, Stratford Connecticut, Stratford Ontario. Film: Dead Man Walking, Brokeback Mountain, Popeye, Philadelphia, Last Night, Sudden Disclosure, Scar Tissue. TV: “Law & Order,” “Another World,” “Mourning Becomes Electra” (PBS), “Airwaves, (CBS Series), “What Makes A Family,” Warehouse 13.” Awards: Obie (Whistle in the Dark, Ashes), Drama Desk (Slag), Willager (Mary Stuart), Carbonell (Lettuce and Lovage).

PAUL HECHT has starred on Broadway opposite such actors as Rex Harrison and Maggie Smith, was a Tony nominee for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead and received an OBIE for the title role in Pirandello’s Henry IV. He has a long and varied career in film and television and has directed and appeared in many literary events in NYC, including at least a dozen at Cornelia Street. including last year’s Shakespeare celebration and, in an inspired stroke of typecasting, God in Milton’s Paradise Lost.

JED DISTLER: Called “an altogether extraordinary pianist” (Newark Star-Ledger) and “the Downtown keyboard magus” (The New Yorker), Jed Distler has premiered works by Frederic Rzewski, Lois V Vierk, Virko Baley, Wendy Mae Chambers, Andrew Thomas, Simeon ten Holt, Virgil Thomson, David Maslanka, William Schimmel, Kitty Brazelton, Alvin Curran, and Eleanor Hovda, many which were written especially for him. As ComposersCollaborative’s co-founder and Artistic Director, Jed has created and programmed such innovative festivals as Solo Flights, Non Sequitur, and the long-running Serial Underground series New York’s landmark Cornelia Street Café. A regularly featured CD reviewer and blogger for Gramophone and Classicstoday.com where he mostly writes about piano music, Jed helped uncover the notorious Joyce Hatto scandal in February 2007. He taught for more than 20 years at Sarah Lawrence College, and has received grants from ASCAP, Meet the Composer, and American Composers Forum, plus a Macdowell Colony residency.

DEMETRIUS SPANEAS travels the world as a musical ambassador, connecting classical, jazz, and traditional music throughout the US, Eastern Europe, and Asia. He has worked with such diverse artists as John Cage, Ray Charles, and Kyrgyz traditional musicians, and has been featured soloist and composer at major concert venues and international festivals in the three continents. Through his work with the US Embassy system, he has presented concerts and lectures on American music and culture throughout the former Soviet Union. Interested in connecting cultures and creating international artistic dialogue through cultural diplomacy, his current initiatives focus on Central Asia, the Balkans, China, and Russia. He has won grants and awards from ASCAP, Meet the Composer, the American Music Center, and other organizations, including a special certificate from the Russian Duma (senate) for enriching the cultural life of St. Petersburg.

$20 music charge at the door, includes $10 drink/food credit

Cornelia Street Cafe, 6PM

If you want to know what’s going to occur, you need to attend…………………………….that’s all I’m saying………

I wanted to use this post to present to you the new promotion video for the 2012 Dushanbe Ethno-Jazz Festival (Tajikistan). This new video presents footage from the 2009 and 2010 Festivals (originally named the Dushanbe Jazz Festival). I was Artist-in-Residence for the 2010 Festival, working with the traditional Tajik band Mizrob. I appear at around 3:40, at the unofficial jam session (playing Sonny Rollin’s St. Thomas) and at my festival performance with Mizrob. The video is in Russian:

I am planning on working with the Bactria Cultural Centre and the Dushanbe Ethno-Jazz Festival again in the near future.

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And…just for fun, I decided to post again three videos from the 2010 festival. The first is a television promotion/interview with me (also in Russian); the second, the premiere of my piece Open Letter to Dushanbe with Mizrob; the third, playing Mizrob’s Oh, Joyful Spirit (rough translation from the Tajik).

Enjoy!!!

Demetrius