Fall has been jam packed for Stratospheerius. We recently had the honor of performing alongside bands like Saga, Nekrar, Discipline, and Joe Getter at Progstock, the biggest Progressive Rock Festival in the Northeast United States!
Here are some photos from our show and meet n greet! Thank you from the bottoms of our hearts to Tom Palmieri and Ann Rinaldi for this incredible opportunity! Thank you to our videographer David P. Levin for creating 75 minutes of mind-blowing backdrop footage for our performance! Also, thank you for the tireless crew of volunteers backstage, which includes Ray Loboda, Scot Corcoran, Alan Benjamin, Jim Robinson, Jason Kresge, Joel Simchas, and a slew of other folks who were involved!
I am excited to once again have the opportunity to perform my solo electric violin show at Skipfest, followed by a duo performance with legendary keyboardist/composer Neil Alexander, and later sitting in with his band, “Nail.”
Trinity Episcopal Church, 55 George St , Allendale NJ. 3 P.M.
Music by Joe Deninzon, Tracy Silverman, The Polcice, Jaco Pastorius, Neil Alexander, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Luiz Simas, Paganini, Mark O’Connor, David Wallace, and more!
We leave you with an oldie but a goodie. Here’s our performance of our song, “Release,” filmed by our friend Julia Gillies from the audience.
Progstockis the premier progressive rock festival in the Northeaster United States, founded by our good friend Tom Palmieri.
The event takes place at the Union County Performing arts Center in Rahway, NJ from Friday, October 11-Sunday October 13th
Stratospheephius performs on Sunday, October 13th at 1:30 PM, but you should BUY TICKETS NOWand spend the whole weekend to hear these other incredible bands, who we are proud to share the stage with:
Yes folks, it took us a while but we HAVE NEW MUSIC!!! This marks the recording premier of the new lineup of Stratospheerius, featuring:
Joe Deninzon-Electric violin/lead vocals
Michaelangelo Quirinale-guitar/vocals
Paul Ranieri-Bass/vocals
Jason Gianni-drums/vocals
In May, we laid the groundwork for four new tracks, which will eventually become a part of our next record. In the meantime, we have created an 8-minute monster called Impostor!
This track will be released as a single and be available for the first time EVER at Progstock!
The track features guest appearances by Randy McStine-guitar/vocals
And keyboardist Bill Hubauer (Neal Morse Band)and was tracked by Rave Tesar andmixed and mastered by Rich Mouser, best known for his work with Neal Morse, Spock’s Beard, Trans Atlantic, Flying Colors, and basically half of my record collection. Please visit our Facebookand twitterpage for teaser samples of the song in the next few weeks. I can’t wait for you to hear this track!!!
11/16/19 @ 3 P.M.
Trinity Episcopal Church, 55 George St , Allendale NJ.
1 hr solo electric violin set by Joe Deninzon, followed by a duo set with keyboardist Neil Alexander.
Performing originals and covers by Mahavishnu Orchestra, Steve Vai, Frank Zappa, Jean Luc Ponty, Tracy Silverman, Mar O’Connor, and more! https://www.facebook.com/events/505511826870985/
I am pleased to announce that a new original string quartet of mine called “Benson Burner Boogaloo,” is now available from JW Pepper! This is another funky jazz piece with a “Sidewinder” feel. Easy to learn for intermediate players. Check it out, as well as my other sheet music, “What’s that Thang” and “Shock Therapy.” Thank you to Lynne Latham for making this possible
Late February, Stratospheerius performed with the North Brunswick, NJ HS ORchestra, under the direction of Arvin Gopal. This was our first time as a band performing with a full string orchestra. I am grateful to Arvin for inviting us and putting this whole concert together. The band consisted of Jason Gianni on drums, Paul Ranieri on bass and Aurelien Budynek on guitar. Watch the full concert HERE:
On March 21st, I realized a dream I’ve had for a long time; to create a night featuring bands led by creative string players. The first (and definitely NOT last) STRINGFEST took place at DROM in NYC and featured Stratospheerius, Mazz Muse, 2birds Band, and Seven)Suns. I hope to do this again in the fall, featuring different bands at each show, and possibly take it outside of NY!! Stay tuned…
Here is Stratospheerius performing our cover of King Crimson’s “Frame by Frame”, with special guest Tobias Ralph (Adrien Belew) on drums:
For the 9th year in a row, I will be returning to teach and perform at Mark Wood Rock Orchestra Campin Olathe, KS. This is the Camp’s’ 10th year, hence the title MWROCX!
To say this is a special week for me is an understatement. Mark Woodis a revolutionary. One of the greatest living electric violinists, the man who designed my 7-string Viper, and someone who turned string education on its head with his Electrify your Strings Programs! He created the first and only camp dedicated to electric string playing, but open to all ages and instruments. The kids who come here remind me of myself when I was a teenager, a misfit violinist who wanted to rock out. The difference is that back in my day, such a camp and a community didn’t exist. Us rock string nerds had to fend for ourselves. This is like the island of broken toys and the level of camaraderie, inspiration, love, and musical catharsis can not be put into words to those who never experienced MWROC. You just have to be there!
STRATOSPHEERIUS IS BACK IN THE STUDIO!
The new lineup of Stratospheerius went into the studio last week with our longtime friend/engineer Rave Tesar and broke ground on 4 new songs! This is the beginning of our 6th studio album, which we hope to have out next year! The new lineup is :
Jason Gianni-drums
Paul Ranieri-bass
Michaelangelo Quirinale-guitar
