Happy New Year to All!

As many of you have probably noticed by now, I am in the midst of updating my website. I needed to make the browsing experience here more user friendly and sleek (read: get rid of all of the excess clutter on my pages…). I will most certainly announce when everything is in place and fully operational…to be honest, I mainly need time to figure it all out, myself…

Well, you already heard the big news on my last posting. I have been appointed to the Fulbright Specialist Roster in the field of American Studies, Music. This week, I have started the process of creating projects and deciding where to go. I have many invitations from countries that I have already visited, but I also want to focus some on places that I haven’t been where my presence and teaching would have the most impact. I hope to have my first project underway shortly, and am aiming to travel and be in-residence (wherever that may be…sorry, no hints yet…don’t want to jinx anything…) by either fall 2012 or spring 2013.

…OK, one hint…the top of my list is a place where I absolutely love the cuisine…somehow, food always comes back into the picture, doesn’t it…?

Since this is January, I am off from teaching for the bulk of the month. During this time, I will be focusing on some large-scale projects that I want to share with you:

I have finally decided to take the plunge and record my next CD. This one–my 4th–will include my chamber music compositions (classical) written for/with clarinet: solos, duos, and trios. This will be the first CD containing only my written (through-composed) music, so it is an exciting (and daunting) endeavor. My first, When Wind Comes To Sparse Bamboo, included my favorite solo music (from across the centuries) to play on saxophone. My second, From a Far-off World, featured music by friends (for saxophone and bass clarinet), as well as my first compositions on a commercial recording. The third, Sfumato, my duo recording (for flutes and voice) with vocalist Galina Parfenova contained exclusively improvisations, although I did compose and realize electronic ‘backdrops’ for the improvisations.

[Note: one of the updated features to my new website will be the ability to purchase all of my CDs here...still figuring this one out...hopefully soon...]

The new CD, titled Autumn Yearning, will have a different vibe since although I am playing on every track, the CD is about my compositions and not my solo playing. This is the exciting part, and this is also why that even though I could’ve easily done a CD with all of my solo/electro-acoustic saxophone, clarinet, and flute compositions, I wanted to focus mostly on chamber music where I am part of the texture and not necessarily the main attraction, although the parts I wrote for myself are never ‘subdued’ by any means…plus, after my first 2 CDs being solo/electro-acoustic projects, it was high time for a change. Also, the one instrument which strangely I haven’t recorded on under my own name on is clarinet (and piccolo, but I don’t count that…); this is funny since in the classical world, for all intent and purpose, I am a clarinetist…funny…

So then, this month, I will record my song cycle Moonlight of Lost Dreams (text by Jacquelyn Familant) with Ms. Familant, soprano and Elaine Kwon, piano with yours truly on clarinet; my Gymnopaedia for clarinet and piano (again with Ms. Kwon); and my Three Graces for Clarinet Solo.

During this same time, I am preparing for a concert on January 23rd at Cornelia Street Cafe where I–along with violist Alexandra Honigsberg and pianist Jed Distler–will be playing the Mozart “Kagelstatt” Trio for clarinet, viola, and piano…we’re calling ourselves ‘Wolf’s Gang’…get it…WOLFGANG Amadeus Mozart…Jed came up with this one…brilliant

Wolf’s Gang is also the same crew who is premiering and recording the title track to the new CD, Autumn Yearning. We’ll record it sometime around the premiere on February 18th at Flushing Town Hall.

And speaking of premieres, I must also finish composing Roots Music within the next couple of weeks so as to send to my colleague Benoit Granier and the TIMI Modern Music Ensemble for its premiere at the Beijing Irish Modern Music Festival in March in China. As I’m sure you recall, I was commissioned by Dr. Granier and the festival to compose a large scale work that combines western classical instruments with traditional Chinese and Irish instruments and a jazz saxophone (me). My Con Edison/Exploring the Metropolis Composer Residency this fall was to research the traditional music of these cultures and to organize and create this piece. Well, as you all know, I was successful in finishing the groundwork for the composition and am now writing it all down and preparing the score for performance. This’ll be fun!

And, well, if that weren’t enough, I was also given the task over this winter break to create a two-year undergraduate composer’s workshop for Five Towns College, where I teach composition and performance. This will redefine the entire composition program, and they are giving me full reign to organize it however I wish…scary…of course, I pushed for this, so this is what I get…but I’m delighted that it’s being implemented.

And if I get bored, there are plenty of residency and grant applications due this month…will be sending out a few of those, as well…

So, here is my January…I’ll keep you all updated as the month proceeds.

Until soon,

Demetrius

2011 Composer-in-Residence Demetrius Spaneas

We chatted over email with 2011 Composer-in-Residence Demetrius Spaneas. Demetrius talks about his inspirations for cultural diplomacy, memorable travel adventures, and upcoming projects.

You’ve traveled the world as a cultural diplomat. When did your interest in musical diplomacy begin? And how did you come to work with the US Department of State?

Coming of age and beginning to mature artistically at the end of the Cold War made me passionately interested in Eastern European and Central Asian cultures. The possibility of contact with countries and cultures that had been off-limits for so long had a huge impact on the direction of my creative work. Studying the traditional music of these cultures while in my 20s – beginning in the Balkans and moving eastward – I sought out teachers and traditional musicians to learn from and perform with. In my own work as composer and improviser, I began to adapt this traditional music and combine it with Western European and American forms. This blending and adaptation continues to be my main creative focus. I continually seek traditional musicians to improvise with, and together we create a dialogue using our own musical languages, finding common ground and understanding within melodies and phrases. In my work, musical dialogue leads directly to cultural understanding.

Cultural diplomacy is really an outgrowth of this process. Becoming interested in the cultures and music naturally led to an interest in the individual artists. People want to communicate. They want someone to listen to what they have to say. Cultural diplomacy, for lack of a better word, gives people an opportunity to create dialogue. Diplomacy is really dialogue. Stimulating conversation is the key to any type of collaborative process, be it political or artistic. I want to help people be heard and give their ideas a voice. This is what any individual really wants.

I started making cultural diplomacy the focus of my career in the mid-2000s, mostly due to connections with musicians/artists through social media sites, especially MySpace. It was through this networking that led to many opportunities overseas, including a 15-country Eurasian tour while living in St. Petersburg, Russia for one year. It was at this time that I started working with the US Embassies – first as a lecturer and performer on American music and culture in Russia, then at other locations in the former Soviet Union, where they helped support my collaborations with local cultural organizations.

As an active concert performer and lecturer abroad, what do you choose to highlight?

All of it. My career has evolved me into a composite musician: composer, performer, and educator.  I can’t do one without the other. And now I am expected to do all, usually at the same time!  Leonard Bernstein said that when he was with composers he was a conductor, and when he was with conductors he was a composer. My situation is similar (of course, I still actually want to grow up and BE Leonard Bernstein…).

What have been your most memorable moments in your travels?

Well, there are two parts to this. The first has been the uneasy and somewhat dangerous situations I have been in – political settings and natural disasters. In Uzbekistan, I was trailed all over the country by the NSS (former KGB) and barred from lecturing and performing at many locations. They also threatened teachers, students, and journalists with arrest if they were to work with me. The official line was fear of me starting a “democracy riot.” I’m glad they think that an American jazz musician can have such a societal impact! They even threatened The Samarqand College of Music with arrest of the entire faculty and school shut down if I stepped foot on the campus. In terms of natural disasters – ice storms at 12,000 feet in the Pamir Mountains, no water or electricity, flash flooding, my plane crashing on the runway (yes, that happened).

But…the other side of this has been seeing not only the great impact my presence has had on locals, but their immense kindness and hospitality toward a foreigner. People are people. And many in the former Soviet Union – most especially the Islamic countries – are kind, courteous, and treat strangers as guests. They want to talk to you and know everything about you. They know what you’ve accomplished by going to the opposite side of the world to visit them, and they are incredibly grateful. This kindness and willingness to share and communicate is what keeps me going.

How does being a composer in NYC differ from the other cities and countries you’ve worked in?

New York is magnificent. Simple. The resources of music and musicians are better here than anywhere else in the world. This is especially true as a composer. There are many, many musicians and ensembles who are interested in exploring new music. And these are wonderful musicians who could play anything they wanted, but they choose what’s new and relevant.  No other city has this, anywhere.

One of your upcoming projects is “Roots Music,” which incorporates Irish, Chinese, European classical and jazz musical traditions. Please explain how you conceived of this amazing mix.

I didn’t! The piece is a commission from the Beijing-based TIMI Modern Music Ensemble and their director Benoit Granier. I have collaborated with this ensemble in recent years as both performer and composer here in NYC, Boston, and Beijing. The ensemble one of the few new music ensembles in China. And as far as I know, they are the only ensemble dedicated to both new classical music and traditional Chinese music. For that purpose, the ensemble mixes western classical and traditional Chinese instruments. In “Roots Music,” I will combine these two styles with American jazz – meaning me as “jazz” saxophone soloist – along with traditional Irish musicians who will be in Beijing collaborating with TIMI for the Beijing Irish Modern Music Festival in March 2012 (yes, it exists…).  My idea for the piece is to take traditional/folk music from each culture (such as Blues and Spirituals from America) and blend them into a large concert piece.  The work will not be a pastiche of styles, but a true blend in which they complement each other. The term “roots music” means music indigenous to a specific group or culture. Much of our roots music is very similar in the deepest layer. It is another way in which we are all connected.

For your Con Edison Musicians’ Residency at Flushing Town Hall, what do you hope to accomplish?

The main goal of my residency is to research and explore the music and traditions that I will incorporate into “Roots Music.” Needless to say, Chinese culture is very important to the makeup of Flushing, which makes it a perfect place to immerse myself into Chinese music and culture. I have been researching Chinese music and poetry styles, as well as mastering the Chinese dizi flute (I have a large collection of world music flutes). I have begun to meet with and play with local traditional musicians and educators, and will be exploring collaborations with them as well.

I am also composing another work for classical instruments (clarinet, viola, and piano) entitled “Autumn Yearning” that is based on the traditional Chinese music that I have researched. This piece, along with other works, including a possible collaboration with Chinese musicians, will be performed at my Con Edison Residency concert on February 18, 2012.

Any more travel plans?

Well, I will be in China for the premiere of “Roots Music” in March. I also have a premiere in Italy of my work “Love Letters in the Ether.”  It’s being scheduled for the spring by the Rome-based new music ensemble Piccola Accademia degli Specchi.  A concert or two in Russia is also in the works for 2012.

What’s next?

In November, I will appear as soloist and will also have a premiere in Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall.  My work for solo saxophone - played by me – is called “Around Monk-night” and is an improvised-sounding toccata based on Thelonius Monk’s famous “‘Round Midnight.”  This event will be a benefit concert created by pianist Elaine Kwon for the charity Best Buddies. In December, I will be performing a solo/duo concert of my music for Composers Collaborative’s Serial Underground concert series at the Cornelia Street Cafe. I will be joined by CCi’s Artistic Director, the great pianist Jed Distler, for the premiere of two works that evening, ”The Love We Made” and “Giuffre Sketches,” the latter a tribute to my former teacher, the late Jimmy Giuffre.

To keep up with Demetrius, check out his website and blog.

Please visit Exploring the Metropolis

Hello All,

Those of you from outside the East Coast of the US are probably very aware widespread destruction that Hurricane Irene has caused us. The devastation of communities from North Carolina to Canada has been incredible, and major areas of the Northeast–like Long Island, Westchester County (NY), Connecticut, Boston-area, Vermont–who are not used to such storms were hit very hard. I want to say right now that I’m extremely thankful for the precautions taken by Mayor Bloomberg of NYC and the great work by the FDNY, NYPD, and the various other offices and the great number of volunteers. NYC was spared the brunt of storm, but even so without such a plan or infrastructure in place, many more lives would’ve been lost and damage would have been more widespread. Again, thank you. And although many of my fellow New Yorkers may have been upset with the inconvenience of shutting down the MTA and the airports, if they would just look a few miles in every direction towards New Jersey and Long Island and even to the surrounding counties, I believe that they may start to consider themselves pretty damn lucky.

We’ve had some extreme weather this year in NYC: heat, tornadoes, earthquake, hurricane…this has caused some of my more religious-minded fellow Americans to speculate that these weather patterns are not due to global climate change, but to Divine design to punish NYC for its ‘evil’ ways…hmmm…if I were more of that thinking, I would probably chalk it up to the omnipresent spirit of George Gershwin commenting on the rewrite of Porgy and Bess…but I digress…

Well, onto the good news!

This week begins my time as the Con Edison/Exploring the Metropolis Resident Composer for the borough of Queens. The best part about this residency is that I get to use the wonderful facilities at Flushing Town Hall, which is in the center of a vibrant community.

Now, the idea of my project is to research and create source material to compose a new large-scale piece entitled Roots Music. This piece will combine traditional Chinese instruments, traditional Irish instruments, European classical instruments, and a solo jazz saxophone (performed by yours truly:)) Flushing is a perfect location to begin researching the traditional music and instruments of China since it has the largest Chinese population in NYC. The schools, shops, restaurants (yes, restaurants!) and community centers will provide incredible access into the culture.

The commission for this piece came from Benoit Granier, who is a composer and director of the TIMI Modern Music Ensemble, in residence at the Beijing Central Conservatory. Roots Music will have its premiere on St. Patrick’s Day, March 2012 at the Beijing Irish Modern Music Festival.

My thought is to base the piece on traditional melodies (or create my own that ‘sound’ like traditional melodies) and styles from all of these cultural genres. I also plan to take this ‘source material’ and use it as a basis to compose a series of new pieces for varied instrumentation over the next year. I expect to use some of these smaller pieces as part of my final residency concert at Flushing Town Hall, which will take place in February 2012.

Many of you remember that I started working with Dr. Granier in 2009, a collaboration that led to performances at the 2009 Musicacoustica Festival in Beijing. In April 2011, we collaborated again for a series of concerts in Boston (Northeastern University and Berklee College of Music), NYC (at (le) Poisson Rouge), and in New Jersey (Rutgers University). During this tour, TIMI performed the new version of my work Gymnopaedia. Here is the video of the premiere at Northeastern University, as part of the TransCultural Exchange International Conference on the Arts:

I’m excited to begin researching and preparing Roots Music, and the other smaller works which will be generated from it.

Well, that’s all for now. I do promise you that I’ll write the 4th (and probably final) blog on volume sometime in the next week or so.

Thank you all again for your support!

Demetrius

Greetings and welcome to Part III!

I had been thinking about writing this series on volume for some time, but the spark to kick-start it happened at a concert a few weeks back.

I went to a concert given by Sonnambula (their debut, actually) at the Church of the Most Holy Redeemer in the East Village in NYC. Sonnambula is a new viol consort that performs Renaissance and Baroque repertoire for large ensembles of viols–a viol is forerunner of the modern violin family:

viols

These are lovely, sombre instruments. They are also amazingly quiet. The concert also used a small, portable organ and a virginal, which is a softer, older harpsichord.

The church setting was lovely, a perfect atmosphere for this type ensemble, save for the fact that noise from the outside made the ensemble disappear at times. Even with a group of eight musicians playing together, they were no match for the basic sounds of modern city life emanating from beyond fully-enclosed stone walls.

Now, I do play recorder, which is really the earliest Western woodwind instrument that still enjoys some widespread use. The recorder is also a very quiet instrument; anyone who tries to play it loudly by blowing harder is in for a disturbing experience. In this ensemble, however, the recorder would balance perfectly (of course it would…they are all from the same era)…my thought was that if I were playing my modern silver flute that I would bury the entire ensemble even while playing quietly…

The recorder eventually gave way to more modern–and louder–instruments such as the (transverse) flute, clarinet, and oboe. The same was true of the poor viol being usurped by the violin family starting in the 16th century. When the violin came into being, the concern was that because of its powerful and brilliant sound that it would dominate music-making, and make the music ugly and abrasive…think about this for a moment: it now takes a *section* of strings to balance only a couple of modern wind instruments, and a huge string orchestra would never bury a modern trumpet or saxophone soloist…times change…

Now…it also must be understood that even after the lineup of modern orchestral instruments (and outsiders like the saxophone…) had been settled upon, technology continued to ‘improve’ on these instruments. The most obvious advance in woodwinds had been making the instruments play even faster–woodwinds, it must be remembered, are the ‘speedy’ instruments; they are meant to be used for quick, virtuosic passages. Modern players are in debt to Theobald Boehm for making our lives easier!

But…along with making awkward passages on the instruments easier to facilitate, technological advances not only increased the volume of the instruments, but also made it *easier* to play louder. Advances also made the instruments play more in tune (intonation), which alters the sound characteristic and acoustical properties of the instruments. Instruments became easier to play, yet the sound quality and skill of musicians has deteriorated due to the fact that the level of skill needed to play competently has been lowered by these advances.

I’ll tackle these modern advances and changes in sound and construction in Part IV. I’ll also come after instrument makers and the new market with a virtual linguistic double-barreled shot gun…

Until soon,

Demetrius

Well, it’s done…

I finished it…well, I finished composing and arranging all of the music for it, anyways. The content of the CD is ‘on paper,’ now I just have to record it…which will happen back in the States, hopefully in the fall.

I was a tad worried at the end, I must admit. I was having trouble with two of the pieces: Ruthless on 2nd Avenue and Sweet Rain, which are the 5th and 6th tracks (out of 7) on the CD, respectively. The problems were different with each.

Sweet Rain I thought had a wonderfully strong beginning (if I may be as so bold to say; in many ways it’s my favorite piece of the lot) but I had no idea what to do with it after that; Ruthless on 2nd Avenue just felt kinda lame…

I’ll start with Ruthless on 2nd Avenue because I fixed it first. I liked the idea of the piece: a ‘dirty swamp funk’ influenced by tunes like Steely Dan’s Josie and Miles Davis’ Tutu (being honest here). It’s a blues with ‘altered’ harmonies and a chromatic (chordally speaking) bridge–very me. I liked the melody, too, but there was something missing…

So, I was walking down by the river (where it seems most of my better ideas for this music came from) and I was thinking about if any of the tunes on the album could be rearranged for my Jazz Orchestra at Five Towns College. This one came to mind and I started thinking about it–arranging it in my head. That’s when it hit me…”HORNS,” I exclaimed, perhaps out loud, “it needs horns!”

So, that’s what I did–added a horn section a la Tower of Power to it, playing hits and counter-lines. Of course, that means five more people on the CD ($$$$..and one more $), but that’s OK. It’s for art’s sake

Sweet Rain was really bothering me. I loved the idea of the piece: a meditative work featuring a soaring saxophone in its stratosphere. I really loved it, but after the first presentation of the melody, I was stuck. “What do I do now”, I thought, “it’s not quite meant for improvisation, but I’ve got less than 2 minutes of music”.

The worst part was that it was one of the first things I wrote here; after the first day on it, I stopped working on it because of being stuck, so it was needling me for three weeks…

The idea of what to do came to me while standing in the sunlight on Tuesday morning. It’s funny, all I was doing was standing there, and really not thinking about the piece (at least not consciously) at all. I was looking over the fields where the sheep are–the ones that wake me up at dawn with their bleating–and for some reason (and this shows you the oddity of my psyche) I thought ‘fretless electric bass’…the music on the CD is conceived with an electric bass (5-string, to be exact) in mind, but it never occurred to me to have the bass player switch instruments (embarrassingly odd for an arranger/orchestrator, I know…).

So, what I ended up doing is just using the initial melody I wrote three times. The first and third with saxophone melody, the second with fretless bass on melody. The drums/percussion intensifies as the piece evolves through the melody, and the piano stays exactly the same. It works, methinks. It really is just a show-off piece for me and my altissimo playing, but now it’s far more interesting.

I spent Wednesday listening through everything to make sure I still liked it all, and by the afternoon declared the CD complete.

Thursday I rested, really feeling the weight and intensity of the past month.

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Today, I was a guest (along with fellow resident Gil Trythall) of the Instituto Piaget in Viseu. I spent the morning giving a demonstration performance and talk on improvisation to most of the student body, and in the afternoon gave a master class on equipment and performance interpretation to the students of Henrique Portovedo, the saxophone teacher there. This is really a delightfully lovely campus, and the students and faculty were very attentive to my presentation, which I’m sure was a tad out of their more musically conservative upbringing’s realm.

The photos below are from the day.

Tomorrow is my last day at ARTErra; Sunday I travel to Lisbon for two days, then finally back to New York City on Tuesday morning. As much as I have loved this experience here at ARTErra, I honestly am ready to go home. My final blog on Lisbon will probably happen sometime after I return.

Until then,

Demetrius

The day begins

Improvising on Gershwin's "Summertime"

Lecturing on improvisation

Saxophone master class

Working with a student on the Glazunov "Concerto" (yes, I remember it )

At the end of the day, with saxophone students and faculty

Greetings All,

March is here…which means that my schedule is once again in a period of grand intensity. It’s crazy, it’s fun, it’s Spring.

Firstly, I hope that you all have enjoyed the recent video postings. I plan on adding more over the next couple of months, including another from Poland, probably one or two from recent NYC performances, and even a short film (or two…) which I composed music for.

Well, those that have been following me know, next week begins Womens Work 2011, in which my March 10 concert launches this year’s series. I will perform Carol Alban’s Elegy for clarinet, Beth Anderson’s Comment for clarinet and Toledo Swale for soprano sax and 2 violins (with Alexandra Honigsberg and Elzbieta Polak), Denise Broadhurst’s Equinox for clarinet, Alexandra Gardner’s Two Breathing Songs for clarinet, Lynn Job’s Archangelo Red for clarinet, Jill Miller-Thorn’s Lament for clarinet, Molly Thompson’s Magnolias and Speed for tenor sax, Joan Tower’s Wings for tenor sax and Judith Lang Zaimont’s Astral for clarinet. Several of the composers will speak before the performances of their works. 8 PM in the Renee Weiler Concert Hall at Greenwich House Music School, 46 Barrow Street, Manhattan.

Immediately following the concert, preparations begin for a series of recording sessions that next week for OCTET, a new project by my dear friend William Susman. I am not allowed to divulge any information about this, other than these facts: I am the reed player, the Music Director, and it will be totally cool

Immediately (again!) after the last recording session, I jump on the Amtrak to Boston for the official opening (March 19) of the exhibition of my collaborator, Laura Evans, at the Boston Sculptors Gallery. This exhibition will feature our sound/sculpture collaboration Corpus Apparatus. This will be presented as both a featured work in Laura’s exhibition 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 (more on this later). 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. My electronic score to Corpus Apparatus won the CAP award from the American Music Center this past Fall.

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.

Well, once this bit of traveling is finished, I switch gears from performer/composer to educator/producer for the 2011 High School Jazz Festival at Five Towns College, where I am Assistant Professor of Music and direct the College’s large jazz ensembles. This event will present High School jazz ensembles from both Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island on March 24 from 9AM to 3PM. at the Dix Hills Performing Arts Center.

Following this will begin my collaboration with the Beijing-based TIMI ensemble which combines both Western Classical and Chinese Traditional instruments and is directed by my friend Benoit Granier. Now, here is where the interesting overlapping happens…both TIMI and my collaboration with Laura Evans will be featured at the TransCultural Exchange Conference on International Opportunities in the Arts: The Interconnected World, April 7-10, 2011 in Boston. Corpus Apparatus will be at the Boston Sculpture Gallery, which is one of the featured venues for the conference. I will perform a concert with TIMI on April 7 at Northeastern University’s Fenway Center in which we will premier the new version of my composition Gymnopaedia.

Now, some of you may remember that Gymnopaedia was originally written for clarinet and piano and was premiered by myself and Susanne Kessel at Beethovenhaus in Bonn, Germany on April 20, 2008. Benoit asked me to adapt this piece for his ensemble–the plan is to play it both in Boston April 7 and at Rutgers University on April 11 with me playing clarinet. We are also planning another concert in NYC  between the other two on April 10 (the day the conference ends, mind you–back on an early Amtrak…) at (Le) Poisson Rouge that will be a grand computer-processed improvisation between TIMI, myself, Mari Kimura, and DJ Spooky.

Benoit and I began working together in 2009 in projects that culminated at the Musicacoustica Festival in Beijing. Our current collaborations are gearing towards a festival of contemporary music and cultures also in Beijing in 2012.

My Spring sounds like a trip, doesn’t it…?

I would say that by mid-April I will be comatose, but, this is when the Summer schedule begins to take-off…there are plans in the works for many projects and travels. Well talk about those when they evolve to the point of being able to discuss them properly.

Again, I thank you all for your continued support; I hope to see some of you at these events.

Yours always,

Demetrius

Hello All,

I have to apologize for the time that I have been taking between posts; also, most of my posts as of late have been little more than concert or video announcements. My schedule, combined with many a-looming deadline, has taken its toll on my time for writing or updating. Actually, the only reason that I have time to write now is that I decided not to go to a friend’s concert that I was planning on attending–I have to catch-up on everything (including this posting); I hope I’m forgiven…

Also, the insanity of these times pretty much also defines the fact that only two of my woodwind arsenal will probably see the light of day in the next 6 weeks: my Bb clarinet and my tenor sax. This is mostly due to the Women’s Work Concert that I’m preparing for in March, but there are also plenty of other reasons, like playing along with my jazz band students at the college to teach them stylistic improvisation. More on the tenor later…

I have a number of issues that I do want to blog about, including a series that I want to title ‘Jazz: a four-letter word’ which has to do with the state and perception of jazz in the both the artistic and market worlds. Maybe soon…

That being said, I do want to say that I have been uploading videos via youtube, including posting a another Tajik-Jazz collaboration from my time in Tajikistan at the Dushanbe International Jazz Festival. This tune had the ‘working title’ of Joyful Spirit or Joyous Spirit; in my posting, I decided to add ‘Oh’ to this to make it Oh, Joyful Spirit because I think it has more panache.  You can see the new video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-ALoikYmYQ

Now, that being said, I am planing on adding a video page here on my website; this way, I can post my videos and the ones of me (the good ones, anyways)  that others have taken so that they are all on one page and in one place. I hope to do this by next weekend.

Speaking of equipment, the ongoing saga on finding the perfect (for me, anyways) tenor set-up continues. I don’t really get it; I have basically played the exact same equipment (or new versions there of) on all of my horns from Eb clarinet down to baritone sax for like 25 years, all EXCEPT on tenor. Maybe this has to do with the face that I care more about the sound on it because I consider the tenor to be *my* voice. I try things, they work OK for a while, I try other things. Maybe I’m looking for pure, unfettered expression–Hell, I know I am…

So, I went into Rayburn Music when I visited Boston a few weeks back and decided to try some horns–a couple of Mark VIs, a Conn (for fun; would never buy one–I am a Selmer guy), and some new Selmer Reference 36s. There was this one amazing Mark VI, really wonderful–I just didn’t want to pay what they (the people who put it on consignment, not Rayburn; the on-going joke is that only doctors and lawyers, not musicians, can actually afford them). If I sold my Selmer tenor AND baritone, I’d still be shelling-out a couple grand for this horn–it’s ridiculous the inflated price of these horns…so that wasn’t going to happen…

So, then I started experimenting: “alrighty, what can I do to give my Super Action 80II tenor some more resonance?”

I found a Mark VII neck lurking in the store. My original tenor neck was damaged a number of years ago, and even though it was fixed, it was never ‘right’…so I tried other necks, including a solid silver one, but in the end, I wasn’t happy. But this Mark VII neck…now, granted, those of you who are saxophonists are saying “Mark VII? Why?”; I know, but hear me out. The Mark VII wasn’t a horrible horn, just different than a Mark VI. The neck made a huge difference in the body of sound in my horn–made it bigger, deeper. I like it…

To this odd neck change came something more radical: I bought a new mouthpiece…made of WOOD!

Yes, wood. Again, those of you who are saxophonists, and especially those of you who know me and my work on the R&B side of things are probably picking your jaws up from off the ground. I swore for years that metal was the only way to go for a mouthpiece on tenor, but I tried this: a Theo Wanne Gaia 8

The sound was big, real big, and DARK and rich. I didn’t like it at first, and even after I bought it I keep thinking that I’ll hate it, but I like it more and more. For my style of music now, it may be the right color for my voice. And it plays soooo easily…

It’s funny, I went to the store to actually have a ‘lighter’ setup (the Mark VI is an extremely light horn) and ended up with something robust and darker, and heavier. And let’s be honest, I have a funny looking tenor. My horn was overhauled by the great Emilio Lyons, who, when I told him to surprise me as to the color of the pads I wanted, made them electric blue with kelly green build-ups for the keys and black trim. Add to this the fact that the Mark VII neck is a completely different brass mix (and color) than my S-80II tenor body (orange as opposed to pale yellow) and the brown wooden mouthpiece with gold trim and ligature, and you’ve got a Frankenstien kinda horn. All I wanted was something simple and it got more complex…of course, maybe this is the real simple solution…we’ll see…

…but for now, I like it…

Finally, I did manage to finish the new piece for the wonderful German pianist Susanne Kessel. The work, for pianist and singing bowl (one player) now has the title of jalewa, which refers to a Nepalese river bird. I’m very happy with the piece; I feel as if I was channeling both Morton Feldman and Oliver Messiaen. I think that watching the performance of the piece will be as wonderful as listening to it–I make Susanne hold the singing bowl the entire time with her left hand while she strikes it and plays piano with the right hand.  I can’t wait!

So, there it is–my life update for you all, with a little equipment geeking-out. I hope you enjoyed it.

Until soon,

Demetrius

Dear All,

Since my last post was about 2010 and all of the surprises it held (especially since, as I mentioned, I assumed it would be a ‘quiet’ year), I’ve decided to write a little about the major projects that I have cooking for 2011. Most of these are for the spring, as the summer and fall are only now beginning to take shape. Again, I never know what will actually happen, but in many ways, that’s a lot of the excitement of it all…stressful at times, but exciting overall.

Strangely enough, one of the major upcoming events in 2011 was signed on December 30th. This would be the reissue of my first two solo CDs–When Wind Comes to Sparse Bamboo (2003) and From a Far-off World (2006)–which were originally released on Capstone Records. The Capstone catalog, which is now facilitated by Parma Recordings and under the profound stewardship of Bob Lord, will release the CDs through the Naxos Online Library, as well as Amazon and iTunes, as part of their new ‘Capstone Collection’. I am very pleased that these recordings will have a new life, and perhaps a new audience. This will happen in the first part of 2011.

This past weekend ushered in another stage of a major multi-year project. Many years ago, I had the idea to create a multimedia monodramatic opera entitled Cassandra, based on the enigmatic character from Greek mythology (Iliad, Orestia, and others). After some failed attempts at finding grant funding, I put together a very strong artistic team (Jacquelyn Familant, soprano; Adam Blanshay, director; Kate Light, librettist; Sylviane Jacobsen, set designer; others) and we have decided to make this happen for 2013. This weekend, we filmed a scene from the opera (a recitative and aria, titled The Cup of Agony, which, by the way, we created, rehearsed, and staged starting two weeks ago) to use for both grant applications and other methods of fundraising and publicity. The film of this scene will go up on my youtube channel by week’s end.

Speaking of my youtube channel, I will be posting new live performance videos from my festival performances in Tajikistan and Poland very soon. Stay tuned!

Many of you know about my work promoting American women composers abroad, especially to women composition students in the former Soviet Union that have no proper role models. On March 10, I have the honor of presenting a solo concert for the Women’s Work 2011 series, featuring many of the composers whose works I have promoted, and many new ones, as well. This series has been undergoing a difficult time due to having their funding and support cut last-minute with no warning, and past any deadlines to apply for other funding. Below is a link with series director Beth Anderson-Harold talking about this year’s plight and concerts. The project is now fiscally sponsored by Fractured Atlas, and any support or donation is considered a charitable donation.

Women’s Work 2011

I am truly delighted with my 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. My electronic score to Corpus Apparatus won the CAP award from the American Music Center this fall. This award is to fund the final production and presentation of the work.

2011 will also start off with a bang compositionally. The wonderful German pianist Suzanne Kessel has engaged me to write a new work for her that also utilizes her playing ‘percussion’ as well as piano. I have decided to use Tibetan singing bowls as the ‘percussion’ instrument. The new piece, with a working title of Breathe, will be premiered this year in Germany and other European locations.

I will also be collaborating as both composer and performer with the wonderful Boston-based choreographer Rebecca Rice in a performance to be held at New York City’s Merce Cunningham Studio. Details of this June 13 performance soon to follow.

Amidst all of the major projects, the numerous other smaller concerts scattered throughout the year, some intense recording sessions, and a very heavy teaching schedule, I am in fact planning on composing and recording a new CD that combines new compositions, improvisation, world music, and electronics. All I am saying at this point is that it will happen…you’ll have to wait for details…:)

As always, i am humbled and honored by your continued interest and support. I wish you all a wonderful, successful, and peaceful New Year.

Warmly,

Demetrius

"Cassandra", stage for filming, Jan 02, 2011

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,

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