Press:

“The [Atlanta Ballet] also gives the new work "Pavo," created by the Atlanta Ballet's own principal dancer Tara Lee, its world premiere. The piece is a meditation on the spiritual symbolism of the peacock, usually associated with beauty and pride, but here celebrated for its aspect of transformation, specifically its ability to digest some species of poisonous plants which allegedly make its plumage more vivid and beautiful. The piece becomes especially dramatic under Robert Hand, Jr.'s precise lighting design, which carves the floor and space into stark sections, and by Atlanta composer Nickitas Demos' pulsing live score for DJ and three musicians. The piece opens with dancers in tense, conforming postures, walking in rigid circles which gradually release through an agitated storm of movement. Especially lovely is the duet at the piece's center, danced splendidly by Christine Winkler and John Welker on opening night.”
Andrew Alexander - Creative Loafing

"On the evidence of the chamber pieces heard here, [Demos'] music is emotionally direct and powerful in an essentially tonal language which most should find easily accessible. Indeed there is an openness to the music which is thoroughly welcoming, without ever being merely populist. The earliest piece here, Mnimosinon...is moving and richly expressive...The Suite for Oboe, Viola and Piano...is an exciting, musically sophisticated piece, full of tonal complexity and structural sophistication without ever running the risk of being merely clever. ...The whole makes a fine trio which deserves to be more widely played and heard...a rewarding programme of chamber music... Demos is certainly a composer whose ears are open to many different musical idioms, but who is able to synthesise them into coherent music of a distinctive kind. There is much here that I will return to frequently, I suspect."
Glyn Pursglove - Music Web International

"The third Atlantan on the program, Nickitas Demos, is the local composer I'd nominate for Most Likely to Become Famous and earn a serious national reputation. His 13-minute 'Tonoi I' (1999), for solo viola, was the first in his set of abstract works for solo instruments (now seven in number) and harks back to Italian modernist Luciano Berio's trend-setting 'Sequenzas.' But Demos' bold voice is his own. Played by the work's dedicatee, Tania Maxwell Clements, her viola voice exceedingly lovely and caloric, the music moves along a compelling emotional journey. Like the best of Demos' music, it's substantive and accessible and personal, not derived from any '-ism.' After every Demos performance I scratch my head and wonder: Can he push himself to the next level?"
Pierre Ruhe - ArtsATL.com

"Big, Bright, and Beautiful Noise by Nickitas Demos lived up to its title with big sounds, good interplay between the parts, and building wide-open chordal structures that culminated with a huge chord and unison rhythms that brought the work to its conclusion.”
Gary Mortenson - International Trumpet Guild Journal Special Supplement