Nickitas Demos Appointed Interim Director Of Georgia State University's School of Music

ATLANTA—Dr. Nickitas Demos has been appointed interim director of the School of Music in Georgia State University’s College of the Arts.

Dr. Demos, who has been with School of Music for more than 20 years, takes over this leadership role from Dr. Wade Weast, now the founding dean of the new College of the Arts. Dr. Demos, a professor of music, coordinates the Composition Studies area and directs the neoPhonia New Music Ensemble. He also is the new director of the Center for Collaborative & International Arts.

“Dr. Demos is the perfect person to lead the School of Music at this time,” Weast said. “His GSU roots are deep and his student-centered approach to leadership is impressive.”

Demos holds a doctor of musical arts degree in composition from the Cleveland Institute of Music, a master of music degree in composition from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and a bachelor’s degree in clarinet performance from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Commissions include works for the Cleveland Orchestra, Atlanta Ballet, Nashville Chamber Orchestra, Atlanta Chamber Players and the National Association of College Wind & Percussion Instructors. He is the recipient of numerous grants and awards, including: finalist in the 2016 American Prize in Composition – Orchestra; semi-finalist in the 2015 Rapido! Composition Competition; MacDowell Arts Colony Fellowship (2012); grand prize in the 2004 Millennium Arts International Competition for Composers; grand prize in the 2005 Holyoke Civic Symphony Composition Competition; and 18 ASCAP Awards.

Dr. Demos’s works have been programmed at festivals, symposia and conferences, including the 43^rd Dimitria Festival (Thessaloniki, Greece); the 18^th International Review of Composers (Belgrade Serbia); the International Festival – Institute at Round Top, Texas; the Ernest Bloch Music Festival (Newport, Ore.); the New Music Forum Festival of Contemporary Music (San Francisco); and national and regional conferences of the Society of Composers Inc. and the College Music Society. His music is self-published through Sylvan Lake Press and is recorded on Ablaze Records, Albany Records, MSR Classics and Capstone Records.