WORLD PREMIER JOE DENINZON ELECTRIC VIOLIN CONCERTO WITH MUNCIE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

WORLD PREMIER JOE DENINZON ELECTRIC VIOLIN CONCERTO WITH MUNCIE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

MSO-LOGO JOE 2015 HEADSHOT cropped for website

Sept 19th World Premier Joe Deninzon Electric Violin Concerto with

Muncie Symphony Orchestra

Ladies and Gentlemen,
It’s been 16 months of  hard work.
I am proud to announce the world premier of  my “Dream Diary: Concerto for Seven-String Electric Violin and Orchestra” with Muncie Symphony Orchestra on Saturday, September 19th at 4 PM!

I will give a pre-concert talk about the piece at 3:00.

This performance takes place at Sursa Hall on the campus of Ball State University, 2000 W. University Ave., in Muncie, IN.

Tickets are $30 advance and $35 at door. They are $5 for students from Kindergarden through Senior High ages.

For more information, please call  800-382-8540 and 765-289-1241.

The website is www.munciesymphony.org.

https://www.facebook.com/events/446146335570424/

Here is some more information about the piece:
DREAM DIARY: CONCERTO FOR 7-STRING ELECTRIC VIOLIN AND ORCHESTRA
Growing up as a classically trained violinist, I fell in love with rock and jazz at the age of 12, and my musical tree sprung new branches. While continuing my violin studies, I took up guitar and electric bass. In the late ’80s/early ’90s, the guitar hero reigned supreme in the rock world. Virtuosos such as Eddie Van Halen, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Nuno Bettencourt, and Eric Johnson were highly revered. Every band had a guitarist who could “shred” and for one of the rare times in history, instrumental rock albums were on the Billboard charts. These guitar virtuosos influenced the way I approach the violin and were one of the reasons I started playing the electric violin. Dreams  were a recurring theme in their music; Joe Satriani had a popular instrumental rock album titled “Flying in a Blue Dream, and Steve Vai’s “Passion and Warfare” was a huge influence.
In interviews, I read that Steve Vai kept a dream diary, writing down his dreams while they were still vivid when he woke up.  He allowed those dreams to influence his compositions. Through my observations as a composer and songwriter, the best and easiest creations have come to me in my sleep or during a daydream, times when I was not fully conscious, as if someone or something was channeling them through me. I started a musical “dream diary” to write down melodies and themes that spontaneously came to me.
The DREAM DIARY concerto has a great deal of surreal imagery and is very dream-like. I researched the cycles of sleep, and thought it would be interesting to write a musical composition that loosely follows these different cycles. When you first fall asleep, you experience vivid sensations known as hypnagogic hallucinations. You are straddling the line between the real world and the dream world. There are sudden jerks of wakefulness followed by sensations of falling and/or flying. Hence the first movement is titled “Falling and Flying.” This movement is truly a tribute to the rock guitar albums of my youth.
The second movement, “Delta Waves,” represents a deeper stage of sleep where you are less likely to respond to outside noises and stimuli. The third is titled “Rapid Eye Movement,” the stage where most dreams occur, and the fourth is “Waking Dream,” when you are having the most vivid dreams, the ones that stay in your memory after you wake up. Although the music is loosely programatic, I leave the interpretation of the dreams being represented to the listener.
There have been some amazing concertos written for the electric violin, but I wanted to feature different effects and sonic textures I developed over the years while performing with my band, Stratospheerius, and show the rich palette of colors this instrument is capable of. I do this by incorporating distortion pedals, way, delay, loops, synths, whammies, and covering the range of the 7-string violin, who’s lowest note is a whole tone below cello range. The soloist plays in bass, alto, and treble clef.
Let me add that the opportunity to write and perform this concerto is a dream come true for me. If you are in or near Munice, IN on September 19th,  and I hope to see you at the performance!
World Premier Joe Deninzon Electric Violin Concerto Muncie Symphony Sept 19th!

World Premier Joe Deninzon Electric Violin Concerto Muncie Symphony Sept 19th!

MUNCIE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA TO PREMIER JOE DENINZON

 ELECTRIC VIOLIN CONCERTO SEPTEMBER 19TH

JOE 2015 HEADSHOT 2MSO-LOGO

The Muncie Symphony Orchestra will present the world premiere of

Joe Deninzon’s “Dream Diary: Concert for 7-String Electric Violin and Orchestra” on Saturday, September 19, at 4 PM.

Also on the program are Leonard Bernstein’s “Candide Overture” and Tchaikovsky’s “Symphony No. 4.”

 

Joe will give a pre-concert talk about his work at 3:00 P.M.

 

This performance takes place at Sursa Hall on the campus of Ball State University, 2000 W. University Ave., in Muncie, IN.

 

Tickets are $30 advance and $35 at door. They are $5 for students from Kindergarden through Senior High ages.

 

For more information, please call  800-382-8540 and 765-289-1241.

 

The website is www.munciesymphony.org.

 

Joe Deninzon (www.joedeninzon.com) will be playing a seven-string “Viper” electric violin with the orchestra. Hailed by critics as “The Jimi Hendrix of the Violin” because of his innovative style on acoustic and electric seven-string violin, Joe transcends many genres. A 14-time BMI Jazz Composer’s grant recipient and winner of the John Lennon Songwriting Contest, he recently was commissioned to write a solo piece for violinist Rachel Barton Pine that was premiered at Interlochen, MI. in June of 2015.

 

Joe is the lead singer and violinist for the progressive rock group Stratospheerius, which had its fifth album, THE NEXT WORLD released on Steve Vai’s Digital Nations. Joe is also a member of the Latin classical hip-hop string quartet, Sweet Plantain. His work as a violinist and string arranger can be heard on over 100 CDs and jingles. He has worked with Sheryl Crow, Bruce Springsteen, Phoebe Snow, Everclear, Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple, Smokey Robinson, Aretha Franklin, Robert Bonfiglio, Les Paul and many other projects.

 

As an educator, Joe has taught rock violin at Mark O’Connor’s String Camp and Mark Wood’s Rock Orchestra Camp. In 2012, Mel Bay Publications released his book/CD/DVD, “PLUGGING IN” about electric violin technique and improvisation. He holds Bachelor’s degrees in Violin Performance and Jazz Violin from Indiana University and a Master’s in Jazz/Commercial violin from Manhattan School of Music.

 

“Dream Diary: Concerto for Seven String Electric Violin and Orchestra,” was inspired, in part, by Joe’s roots in studying classical music and falling in love with ‘80s/‘90s guitar virtuosos such as Steve Vai, Eddie Van Halen, Joe Satriani, Eric Johnson, and Extreme’s Nuno Bettencourt. Joe observes, “Dreams were a recurring theme in their music; Joe Satriani had a popular instrumental rock album titled ‘Flying in a Blue Dream.’”

 

Joe was further inspired by Steve Vai’s “Passion and Warfare” and the guitarist’s mention that he kept a dream diary, “writing down his dreams while they were still vivid when he woke up. He allowed those dreams to influence his compositions.”

 

Stating his best ideas come to him when he dreams (including daydreams), Joe’s “Dream Diary” concerto offers surreal imagery and is “very dream-like.” In the concerto, Joe also uses rock guitar effects on his violin such as distortion, delay, whammies, wah-wah, and loops.

 

Here is a recent interview Joe did with International Musician, where he discuses his latest projects, including the Concerto:

http://internationalmusician.org/joe-deninzon-pushing-the-limits-of-violin/

The Muncie Symphony Orchestra is a professional orchestra established in 1948. The Orchestra was formed to build community connections through music while giving Ball State University faculty and students an outlet to pursue musical excellence in performance. Over the years the MSO evolved and consists of approximately 80 musicians, including resident BSU music faculty and student and professional freelance musicians performing in a variety of orchestras in the Indiana, Ohio, and Illinois Tristate area.

 

The MSO seeks to provide its audience with rewarding musical experiences and to promote social exchange among attendees of the musical events. As an organization that celebrates the cultural vibrancy of the local communities, the MSO uses music as a way to engage, educate, entertain, and enrich through traditional classical and pops concerts, children’s concert, chamber events, and community engagement programs.

 

Conducting the orchestra is artistic director/conductor Douglas Droste.

 

www.joedeninzon.com

www.munciesymphony.org