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Academy alumni have distinguished themselves in music as well as in other professional endeavors. They have gone on to such prestigious schools as The Juilliard School, Oberlin Conservatory, Eastman School of Music, the University of Chicago, Ithaca College, New England Conservatory, Cincinnati Conservatory, Boston University, and Princeton University. They have performed with the Cleveland Orchestra, New World Symphony, the New York String Orchestra, the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, the Aspen Music Festival, and Glimmerglass Opera.
Brian Demaris - Class of 2000 - Piano
Brian studied piano at the Academy as a student of Dr. Xun Pan and was two-time recipient of the Academy's Bacon-Newstead Scholarship. He holds a Bachelor of Music in piano performance from Ithaca College, and in the spring of 2004, he received his Master of Music degree from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. Also a composer, Brian's first musical in collaboration with writer and lyricist Daniel Jurman, The Portrait of Dorian Gray, was recently premiered in a workshop at the Ephrata Playhouse, and his song cycle “Edna St. Vincent Millay Alone in the Dark” will be premiered this summer at Central City Opera in Denver, Colorado.As a Young Artist Pianist for two years at Glimmerglass Opera, he was involved in the productions of Haydn's Orlando Paladino, and Handel's Orlando. He returned to Glimmerglass in 2004 as a member of music staff, working with the composer Richard Rodney Bennett on the professional American premiere of Mines of Sulfur, a production recorded live for release on Chandos Records and broadcast on NPR and BBC Radio. Mr. DeMaris has recently been named Resident Conductor at Ashlawn Opera, where he will be conducting performances of Madame Butterfly and Annie Get Your Gun. Other upcoming engagements include conducting Mozart's Magic Flute and Donizetti's Elixir of Love at the Broadway Presbyterian Church in New York City, and accompanying tenor Corey Bix on a brief recital tour throughout the United Sates in the Fall of 2005. Locally Brian has conducted productions of Sondheim's Sunday in the Park with George and Assasins for the Ephrata Playhouse and will return this summer to conduct Sweeney Todd.
The newest exciting news on Brian is that he has accepted a position as a cover conductor for the New York City Opera.
