Saturday, August 13, 2005
Alter ego

Erik Spangler is not just another composer with a Ph.D from Harvard University. He's also a DJ/turntablist. Known as DJ Dubble8, Erik synthesizes his interest in music for the concert stage with his passion for beat-making into some really cool stuff. I'm proud to boast that the first of his experiments into this realm was a piece called pastlife laptops and attic instruments, which was written for me and premiered last October at an integrated multimedia concert of electro-acoustic music that featured the unsurpassed video artistry of Johnny DeKam. Erik's remixed the track and it's now available on a CD titled Tomkins County Organic: homegrown beats vol. I, which can be purchased at CD Baby. Check it out! Incidentally, the live version of pastlife recorded at the whatWALL? show back in October will be included on my debut album, American Voices. (What's the hold up, you ask? Well, there were a few issues in the first master. It's being remastered and will be off to the record company within a week or so. Hang tight.) More info on DJ Dubble8 at Sonicbids. And watch out next spring for Hybrid Groove Project.
Praised by The New York Times as "an inventive musician . . . fresh and surprising," saxophonist Brian Sacawa has firmly established himself as an important contemporary voice for his instrument. He is active as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician throughout the United States and is the co-founder of the new music duo Non-Zero with percussionist Timothy Feeney.

He has given premieres of over thirty works by both established and emerging composers, including Michael Gordon, Bright Sheng, Andrew Mead, Oliver Schneller, Ken Ueno, Beata Moon, Hillary Zipper, and Scott McAllister, among many others. Named the Baltimore CITYPAPER’s Critic’s Choice for Classical Music in 2002, he is the recipient of awards for solo performance from both national and international competitions.

Sacawa's versatile career has led to appearances with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the New World Symphony, Harvard Group for New Music, New Music Brandeis, Bargemusic, and at meetings of the ISU Contemporary Music Festival, World Saxophone Congress, North American Saxophone Alliance, and New England Saxophone Symposium.

Brian holds degrees from the University of Michigan, the Peabody Conservatory, and the University of Massachusetts – Amherst, where he studied with Donald Sinta, Gary Louie, and Lynn Klock. He has recorded for the Equililbrium, Naxos, and BiBimBop recording labels.

See Brian's other blog
Sounds Like Now