Sinfonia Gulf Coast
Sinfonia Gulf Coast is committed to entertaining, educating and inspiring the community through imaginative and innovative musical programming. Our goal is to enrich and expand the traditional orchestral experience through unique artistic disciplines and collaborations, enhancing Northwest Florida's cultural vitality.
Demetrius Fuller
Music Director & Conductor
Innovative and energetic conductor Demetrius Fuller is garnering critical acclaim at home and abroad. The 2016-2017 season marks his eleventh as Music & Artistic Director of Florida’s Sinfonia Gulf Coast. Fuller has redefined the cultural landscape of Northwest Florida by offering inspiring and artistically evocative performances, exciting critics and patrons alike.
A versatile conductor, Mr. Fuller has been chosen to work with some of the world’s most prestigious conductors and orchestras. Mr. Fuller is an award recipient from the National Foundation for the Advancement in the Arts, the Werner Foundation, and the International Music Foundation. Fuller trained at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, receiving both his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees.
As an accomplished clarinetist, Mr. Fuller has performed in the Dame Myra Hess Chamber Music Series, sponsored by the International Music Foundation and broadcast live on Chicago’s WFMT 98.7 FM. Festival appearances include the Opera Theater of Lucca (Italy), David Oistrakh (Estonia), Aspen, Cabrillo and Eastern Music Festival (USA). He has appeared in master classes with Gustav Meier, Michael Tilson-Thomas, Daniel Lewis, Marin Alsop, Neeme Järvi, Jorma Panula, Larry Rachleff, David Loebbel, and the late Robert Shaw. Fuller has been fortunate to work with various icons in the music industry including: Roberta Flack, Bernadette Peters, Mary Wilson, Patti LuPone, Chris Brubeck and Pink Martini, among others.
An advocate of contemporary music, Fuller has premiered, commissioned and/or collaborated with composers such as Augusta Read-Thomas, Dorothy Hindman, Thomas Schneller, Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon, Joel Hoffman, Moiya Callahan, Samuel Robles, Steven Winteregg, Tan Dun, giving the Southeastern U.S. premier of his Crouching Tiger Concerto and Chris Brubeck, giving the Southeastern U.S. premier of both his violin concerto Spontaneous Combustion and symphonic tribute Ansel Adams: America, which was co-composed with his father, the late Dave Brubeck. During the 2013-2014 season, Fuller lead the Southeast U.S. premier of Identity - Zhongshan Zhuang, co-composed by Victor Cheng and Michael Gordon Shapiro. During the 2014-2015 season, Fuller and Sinfonia co-commissioned and performed the U.S. premier of Chris Brubeck and Guillaume Saint-James Brothers in Arts and the world premier of Nico Muhly’s full orchestration of his electric violin concerto Seeing is Believing.
Abroad, Fuller was invited several times by Maestro Kurt Masur to conduct the l'Orchestre Nationale de France (Paris) in a set of conductor readings. In July 2007 Fuller was one of two conductors selected world-wide to conduct the Iraqi National Symphony and three other Iraqi orchestras in a groundbreaking Unity Academy in Erbil, Northern Iraq sponsored by American Voices and the U.S. Department of State. In 2009, New York City-based Musicians For Harmony appointed Maestro Fuller as one of three Artistic Advisors, an honor shared with musical luminaries Arnold Steinhardt of the renowned Guarneri String Quartet and violinist Cho-Liang Lin.
Locally, Fuller serves on the boards of the Destin Charity Wine Auction Foundation, Okaloosa Arts Alliance, Alaqua Animal refuge, is a past chair of the American Cancer Society’s Cattle Barons’ Ball and continues to serve as a grant panelist for the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs.
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