Press – Derrick Skye

“…It was head-to-head between two L.A. composers for “Best New Composition.” Derrick Skye came out on top with Mind the Rhythm, premiering as part of Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra’s Close Quarters online season.”

– Peter Feher, August 24, 2021

“… Derrick Skye has been honored with the prestigious 2021 Princess Grace Award Honoraria in theater. The composer, who merges music, text, movement, and film, is noted for work that is cross cultural, cross genre, and multi-disciplinary.”

– A.A. Cristi, August 9, 2021.

“…Derrick Senam Eugene Skye, who just changed his legal name from Derrick Spiva Jr. as a way of reclaiming his heritage and distancing himself from the name given to his enslaved ancestors. Skye was careful to point out that his decision was in no way meant to disassociate himself from his current family, who still go by Spiva, and whom he greatly loves and admires.”

– Jessica Gelt, June 19, 2021

“…Spiva is the artistic director of Bridge to Everywhere, a new music collective and arts organization that he founded in 2015. With core members numbering from 10 to 12, the group recently snagged the Best Chamber Performance award from SFCV readers for its October 2019 concert at Boston Court Pasadena. ‘What the ensemble is about,’ explained Spiva, ‘is musically and through community interaction, finding these commonalities between musical practices from different areas of the world and making art pieces out of those commonalities. That’s what we love doing.’”

– Victoria Looseleaf, October 19, 2020

“… the new piece was something to savor… enormous fun to listen to.”

– Richard S. Ginell, September 20, 2015.

“… if the electricity present at the world premiere concerts this past weekend were any indicator, we’re witnessing the birth of a major voice in our global music.”

– Daniel Rosenboom, September 21, 2015.

“…about this young maverick Derrick Spiva… It was a revelation. His composition is clean, clear, creative, and fearless… Does LA have a flag? Because I want to grab it and plant it on this kid and claim him exclusively for the City of Angels before anyone else grabs him.”

– Kathleen Carreiro, September 23, 2015

“When Spiva joined us at The Frame studio, we talked about his varying influences, his interest in West African percussion and composition, and how ‘Apollo 13’ changed his life—and still didn’t scare him out of wanting to be an astronaut.”

– Michelle Lanz and Cameron Kell, September 14, 2015.

(interview with John Horn)

“[Spiva’s piece] really does bring the energy of African dance and Balkan folk rhythm into the concert hall… to do this in a way that is really authentic and doesn’t sound artificial is not an easy thing to do, and I think [Spiva] has done that very successfully.”

– Jeffrey Kahane, September 18, 2015.

(interview with Lindsay Weinberg)