Sound of Silent Film Festival Composers

Since moving to Chicago in 1999 she has composed music for many local theatre productions including The Utopian Theatre, the Chopin Theatre, BackStage Theatre Co. and she composed music for the feature film “Black Mail.”

She has been on faculty at DePaul University since 2003 and is a frequent collaborator with filmmaker and playwright Hurt McDermott.

Demetrius Spaneas

Classical/Contemporary multi-wind soloist/composer and recording artist Demetrius Spaneas leads a varied career in both the New York City and Boston areas. He has commissioned, recorded and premiered works by many major composers, including John Cage, John Harbison, Donald Martino, Bernard Rands, Gunther Schuller, Joan Tower and many others.

He currently has two solo recordings on Capstone Records, “When Wind Comes to Sparse Bamboo” and “From a Far-off World”. His major interests include combining improvisation within classically structured forms, working with electronics, video and world music.

He has worked, commissioned and recorded with some of the most prominent name in American music, including John Cage John Harbison, Gunther Schuller and Joan Tower. He has been a member of the Auros Group for New Music, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, the Harvard Groups for New Music, Forecast Music and Percussia as well as many other chamber and symphonic ensembles in the Northeast.

In great demand as a guest lecturer/performer of new music, he has presented talks and concerts at Harvard University, the California Institute for the Arts, Tanglewood and the New England Conservatory, among others. As a commercial performer he has shared the stage with many top acts, including the Funk Brothers, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin and many others. He is also the founder and leader of the world music ensemble BALKANASIA, which combines music from the Balkans and near east with jazz and rock, and he is the co-director of the NYC based chamber group Sapphire Ensemble.

Demetrius plays exclusively on Ganzales Reeds on clarinet and saxophone and as a composer is a member of ASCAP. He is currently Composer In Residence with the Bay Area Chamber Symphony in California. Demetrius is currently touring Europe and Asia for the 2007-2008 season presenting new classical, experimental and film works.

William Susman

Integrating a diverse range of influences from western classical to jazz and world music, William Susman's compositions can be heard both in the concert hall and on film. His scores for award-winning documentaries have aired on both PBS and the Discovery Channel and at numerous festivals worldwide, while his classical scores have been performed at such renowned concert venues as Gaudeamus Musicweek in Holland and The Aspen Music Festival.

He scored the widely distributed Oil on Ice, which won the International Documentary Association's Pare Lorentz in 2004 and Native New Yorker, which won the Tribeca Film Festival in 2006, and best film score at Park City Film Music Festival. Mr. Susman's international recognition began in his early 20s winning a series of America's most distinguished awards in music composition including ASCAP, BMI and the Fromm Music Foundation at Harvard. Most recently, he won best film score (for Fate of the Lhapa) at the 2007 Moondance International Film Festival and 2008 Park City Film Music Festival. His music is regularly heard on the radio program Echoes aired on National public Radio and Concertzender in Europe.

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