Jaime Martín, music director of Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO), has promoted LACO’s Artist-Educator/Composer Derrick Spiva Jr. to artistic advisor, LACO’s Executive Director Ben Cadwallader recently announced.
Spiva joins Martín and Creative Advisor & Composer-In-Residence Ellen Reid on the organization’s artistic leadership team to program concerts, guest artists and new projects.
Spiva will continue his education work on LACO’s education and community outreach programs, which reach thousands of young people annually. A composer and musician noted for influences that reflect Los Angeles’ multicultural fabric, Spiva has served since August 2018 as the first Artist-Educator for LACO, which is ranked among the world’s top musical ensembles.
“LACO’s longstanding relationship with Derrick, his remarkable gifts as a composer and educator, his expansive and inclusive creative vision and the deep knowledge of diverse repertoire make this a perfect fit,” says Cadwallader.
“It’s an honor to work with LACO as Artistic Advisor to continue to shape classical music for the future,” says Spiva. “Together we can work to reimagine a genre that is not only eager to create without limits but is also equally committed to celebrating a society with a plurality of voices and cultures.”
Spiva began working with LACO during the 2015-16 season when was awarded a composer residency through New Music USA’s “Music Alive” program. His most recent work performed by LACO was a livestreamed excerpt in May 2020 from a LACO-commissioned world premiere of Prisms, Cycles, Leaps Part III: “To Be a Horizon.”
A composer and musician, Spiva often integrates music practices from different cultural traditions around the world into his work with classical music communities. During his studies at the UCLA and the California Institute of the Arts, music across many cultures became an integral part of his musical vocabulary.
Spiva is an American who has Ghanaian, Nigerian, British, Irish, and Native American ancestry. His ancestry and identity have led him to claim and develop an “American” aesthetic that incorporates many cultural influences into his work, reflecting the diverse communities he is part of. Spiva passionately believes in music as a doorway into understanding other cultures and different ways of living.
