No matter what you celebrate, be it Christmas, Channukah, Kwanza, Festivus, or just another day above ground, there is always a good excuse to buy Joe Deninzon & Stratospheerius music & merch!
Whether it’s a gift for a friend or relative, or for yourself. Our items are perfect for stuffing your stocking… or stuffing anything else for that matter!
(We don’t judge).
….And now until 11:59 P.M. EST on December 31st, you can get 20 pct off of ANYTHING on the Joe Deninzon or Stratospheerius BANDCAMP stores if you type in the code “holidaze” at checkout! So what are you waiting for?!
We got CD’s, DVD’s, vinyls, T-shirts, books, mugs for your egg nog, and downloads!
2025 has been another jam-packed year! Busy touring with Kansas, playing a few shows with Stratospheerius, session work and writing, and taking care of my family as much as I can. Here are some highlights…
Kansas had an incredibly busy year, but it got off to a rough start.
Back in February, our singer, Ronnie Platt, was diagnosed with thyroid cancer, leading to two months of cancelled shows, including us pulling out of the 70’s Rock and Romance Cruise, which we were supposed to do in March and will make up for this coming March.
Fortunately, Ronnie was able to get thyroid removal surgery in March, and returned to the stage in St. George, UT on April 4th.
The speed of his recovery was truly a miracle!
For the remaining part of the year, we made up for lost time, touring for 20 weeks straight without a break and playing a total of 71 shows in 2025!
After our epic 50th anniversary tour won down in December of last year, we changed up our setlist and joined forces with some other great classic bands.
It was such an honor to share bills and hang with 38 Special, Outlaws, Night Ranger, Jefferson Starship, Starship (feat. Mickey Thomas), and Blue Oyster Cult.
I grew up listening to these bands and it was such a blast getting to know them personally and watching them kick ass onstage every night. The comraderie and mutual respect was a beautiful thing and the musicians inspired each other!
On November 2nd, my worlds collided when Kansas played a show with members of the New Jersey Symphony at my backyard venue, Bergen Performing Arts Center! NJSO was my wife Yulia Ziskel’s first job while she was still in Juilliard before she joined the NY Philharmonic, and I have subbed with that orchestra as well.
It’s amazing when things come full circle. In attendance that night were keyboard legend Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater) and Derek Shulman, former singer of Gentle Giant and legendary record executive who signed Bon Jovi, Pantera, and Dream Theater among others!
2026 is shaping up to be another busy year for us. You can see all the upcoming Kansas shows at www.kansasband.com
These days, you can count on one hand how many shows Stratospheerius does each year., but we keep on going because we love playing with each other and … well… its just so damn fun!
In 2025, our show highlights included a show at one of our favorite venues in the Philly/Wilmington area, Kennett Flash, with Kansas’ bassist Dan McGowan’s incredible band, The Tea Club! Check out their great new album, “Chasm.”
Other highlights included opening for Asia (Feat. John Payne) at the Sellersville Theater, and making our debut at Daryl’s House Club (beautiful venue owned by Daryl Hall) in Pawling, NY.
We are currently writing and tracking some new music, and we have a big show announcement pending, so please stay tuned…
Here again is our latest video for the song “Voodoo Vortex (Part I, which we released back in February
Education Station
Before joining Kansas, I was busy as a clinician and teacher, doing workshops and residencies at high schools and colleges throughout the country, teaching at Mark Wood Rock Orchestra Camp and other music camps. It’s one of most rewarding things that I love to do! That’s why I’m grateful to my friend Jocelyn Rowland Khalaf for organizing a 1-hr performance/workshop for me when Kansas was in Tulsa this past November. It was a blast performing for and working with 600 orchestra kids from the Union County Public Schools!
Album Appearances
When I’m not on tour with Kansas, I love doing session work for people and making guest appearances on other people’s projects. Here are some of my favorite ones from the past year.
My new friend and 7D Media labelmate, Jason Everett, is an incredible bass player and composer. His project, “Deep Energy Orchestra,” is a combination of some of my favorite musical influences, namely Mahavishnu Orchestra and Shakti. I was honored to appear on two tracks on the excellent new album, “The Science of Sound”
The album also features stick player Trey Gunn (King Crimson), drummer Gary Husband (Chick Corea, Jeff Beck), and Adam Holzman (Miles Davis, Steven Wilson) among others.
Nad Sylvan is best known as the singer for original genesis guitarist, Steve Hacket. He’s also released a bunch of excellent solo albums. His awesome new album is called “Monumentata” and you can here me on the track, “I’m Stepping out.”
Door Dash Commercial
Back in February, one of the commercials I recorded strings for was aired during the Super Bowl. Check out this DoorDash commercial featuring Nate Bargatze, music composed by Aaron Paul Low.
Press
Joe Deninzon Violin Tour
I thought it would be fun to showcase and talk about my collection of acoustic and electric violins, violas, chin cellos, and other bowed stringy things, as well as some of the studio work I have done. Check it out!
Interview & Reaction Video with NicknLex
NicknLex are a super cool couple who are passionate about music. Stratospheerius was honored to get our first reaction video from our song, “Impostor!” NicknLex also interviewed me and my drummer Jason Gianni.
More international rave reviews of Stratospheerius’ album, “Impostor!”
“. Chasing The Dragon is diverse, dynamic, bombastic and 100% harmonious; indeed, a classic prog rock epic for sure, and a powerful end to a magnificent album.”
Impostor! is a MUST have album for fans of Kansas, Spock’s Beard, and The Neal Morse Band, so check it out indeed!”
All the news that’s fit to print about violinist/vocalist/guitarist Joe Deninzon
Hey, everyone!
Happy Labor Day! Hope you all had a great summer.
As the summer winds down, I’m looking back on the past 3 months and wondering… how the hell did I do that!?
Shuffling between Kansas shows in places ranging fro North Carolina to Oregon to the Ozarks to Texas and Ohio and Nebraska and North Dakota, and leaving the kids with family in Asheville and Cleveland and Colorado, commuting to my family vacation in St. Martin between Kansas shows. Every other day was a travel day. I’m lucky I still remember where I am when I wake up in the morning!
Anyway, I’m grateful for every moment. Trying to sleep, exercise, and take my vitamins, you dig?
Kansas had a great string of shows with 38 Special, The Outlaws, Night Ranger, Starship with Mickey Thomas, and Jefferson Starship (That’s right, there are two touring Starships! More on that later..) Here we are with David Frehberg, Cathy Richardson, and other members of Jefferson Starship!
Daryl’s House is owned by Daryl Hall from Hall & Oats and is a super cool venue. We are excited to be making our debut there!
Stratospheerius is: Joe Deninzon-electric violin/lead vocals
Jason Gianni-drums
Michelangelo Quirinale-bass
Bill Hubauer-keyboards on select shows
Dan Asher/Jeff Kotch-bass
Almost a year ago, Stratospheerius released our album, “Impostor!” On 7D Media. This was our most acclaimed album to date, peaking at #4 on the Relix National charts, making numerous critic’s “Best of 2024” list, and receiving much love from fans worldwide. This year, it is eligible for Grammy consideration, and we have submitted it in the following categories:
Best Instrumental Composition: Voodoo Vortex (Part I)
Best Rock Album: “Impostor!”
Best Rock Performance/Best Rock Song: “Outrage Olympics.”
You can listen/watch the music here on our FYC PAGE
Joe Deninzon Violin Tour
I thought it would be fun to showcase and talk about my collection of acoustic and electric violins, violas, chin cellos, and other bowed stringy things, as well as some of the studio work I have done. Check it out!
Here’s a recent interview I did with Jim Masters on his show. We talked about my journey fro a shy immigrant kid who didn’t speak any English, to falling in love with rock violin, my adventures in freelancing and hustling for years in NY, teaching, Stratospheerius, and joining Kansas, among other things. Check it out!
Kansas Keeps Rolling
As I write this, Kansas is about to embark on a 2-week West Coast run, followed by shows in Minnesota, Kansas, Pennsylvania, Missouri, South Carolina, Canada, andmy favorite neighborhood venue, The Bergen Performing Arts Center in Englewood, NJ on Nov 2nd with members of the New Jersey Symphony!
For this who don’t know, I have a PATREON page. For the base price of $5 per month, I’ll share behind the scenes crazy stories in my “Gig Diaries.” For $10 you get a free unreleased track every month. Higher tiers include lessons, personalized, zoom concerts, free tickets, and free swag. I haven’t heavily promoted this page, but it does exist, and all this helps fund future JD/Stratospheerius albums, tours, and other such endeavors.
DENINZONEWS SPRING 20232 All the News that’s fit to print about electric violinist/composer Joe Deninzon & Stratospheerius
Happy spring, beautiful people! Sorry I’ve been so low in updating the site. Lot’s going on. Some thing I am at liberty to share with you. Some things I am not :). But all will be revealed in time… I hope you’re excited for the warm weather and gearing up to see some live music this spring and summer!
Speaking of live music, I’m psyched, overwhelmed with giddiness and excitement to share with you the official release of the new Stratospheerius double LIVE CD/DVD/BLU RAY: “Behind the Curtain (Live at ProgStock)!” We have almost 2 hrs of music taken from our 2019 and 2021 performance at our favorite music festival, ProgStock in Rahway, NJ. During the pandemic, I learned to edit videos, and this baby was. LOT of editing! The world changed during the pandemic, and these performances are a snapshot of where we were before, and after the world turned upside down. The 2021 performance features guest appearances by our good friend Alex Skolnick (guitarist from Testament and former guitarist from Stratospheerius) and Rachel Flowers , the blind multi-instrumental genius, who joins us on piano and flute. All these performances were completely spontaneous with little or no rehearsal, and we were able to capture lightning in a bottle! We want to thank our mixing engineer, Matt Vanacoro, mastering engineer Dave Kerzner, assistant editor David P. Levin, Melodic Revolution Records president Nick Katona, our manager Anne Leighton, and our graphics designer/DVD author Joel Barrios, for countless hours that they devoted to this project. Big thank you to Tom Palmieri and Ann Rinaldi for creating the festival and keeping it alive, and for all the volunteers who work there! This is the culmination of three years of work, and we’re very proud of it and can’t wait to share it with you! The official release date is May 19th! But you can pre-order it if you click on the graphic below!
Celebrate the CD Release with us on May 31st at the Iridium NYC!
Join us on Wednesday, May 31st for our live CD/DVD release party at NYC’s greatest rock/jazz/fusion venue, The Iridium!
Opening the night will be our good friend and longtime collaborator, guitarist/singer/songwriter Randy McStine from Porcupine Tree.
And joining us on stage will be our 5th member, keyboardist/vocalist Bill Hubauer, best known for his work with Neal Morse and his. band, “We Came from Space.”
Here are two of our favorite videos from the upcoming live release; “Game of Chicken,” and “Spain (Feat. Rachel Flowers & Alex Skolnick.”
In other news…
I’m blessed to teach at the new Multi-Styles String program at New Jersey City University! Tomorrow night, you can come and see a FREE concert with students and faculty at the Margaret Williams Theater in Jersey City! Featuring myself, my boss, violist/composer Martha Mooke, bassist John Benitez, and legendary jazz violinist Regina Carter, along with our students, Naxo Romero-violin, Lourdes Rosales-viola, Tom Valdez-cello, Ben Sutin-violin, and Benji Daniels-bass.!
You’re invited to NJCU Multi-Style String X-Travaganza!
BRM Celebrating the music of Shakti/Mahavishnu @ City Winery April 16th
This Sunday, April 16th @ 7 P.M.. Come see Brooklyn Raga Massive perform music of John. McLaughlin, Shakti, and Mahavishnu Orchestra! City Winery NYC. Buy tickets HERE!
Featuring:
Joe Deninzon-violin
Anupam Shobhakar-guitar
Premik Russel Tubbs-sax
Neel Murgai-sitar
Dan Asher-bass
Vin Scialla-drums
Month in Review
I had a blast at the annual American String Teachers conference in Orlando this past March. Sharing the stage at my Loopapalooza workshop alongside living legends/friends Tracy Silverman and Rob Flax!
And hanging with a who’s who of masters in the progressive strings community. Here are some pics:
Sweet Plantain did our annual residency performing for the students at Arlington High School at LaGrangeville, NY. Thank you for Elizabeth and Jonathan Handman for having us back!
On May 17th-21st, I’ll be joining the legendary Mark Wood in San Antonio, TX for the first time working with his EYS “Electrify Your Symphony” program. As a traveling clinician for many years, I’m honored and excited to help Mark and his wife Laura Kaye lead a giant orchestra comprised of many schools in the area, rocking out as one big powerhouse!
This summer, I will be returning for my 13th year of teaching at Mark Wood Rock Orchestra Camp in Olathe, KS from July 9th-15th. If you’re a string player, singer, guitarist, bassist, keyboardist, or drummer, don’t miss this exciting week of learning, performing, and forming lifelong friendships! Sign up TODAY!
I’m honored to be joining my wife, NY Phil violinist Yulia Ziskel alongside members of the San Francisco symphony and other orchestras to teach and perform at the Nelli Shkolnikova Academy at Chateau de La Flocelliere in France. I’ll be the token rock/jazz guy! Nelli was our teacher at Indiana University who passed away from brain cancer in 2010. This music camp was created in her honor and this will be its second year. Sign up today HERE!
Indiegogo THANK YOU!
Our Indiegogo campaign to raise funds for the new Stratospheerius live and studio albums is officially over. We have surpassed our goal of raising $10k, and have had over 150 contributors from all over the United States, Canada, Germany, the UK, Belgium, and France! We are extremely grateful and humbled by the outpouring of support! If you are among the contributors, please know that we are in the process of organizing all the perks and will get them to you before the end of the month! Thank you for your patience an your support!
It’s Friday, September 2nd. I’m sitting here on the balcony of our rented condo in Maui overlooking the islands of Molokai and Lanai, watching the sunset, enjoying our the last days of our annual family vacation, and contemplating the insanity that awaits me when the plane touches down at Newark on Sunday. This fall looks to be one of the busiest runs of performances I’ve ever had, so it’s the GOOD kind of insanity. I just hope I can juggle all this different music in my brain! I feel refreshed and ready to kick some booty! Hope your summer has bee full of beautiful memories and inspirational moments.
Here is a long list of upcoming events I would like to share with you. I hope you can join me on parts of this ride…
Upcoming shows:
9/16 & 17 with Robert Bonfiglio. Grand Canyon Music Festival
My tenure with this festival is old enough to drink (has been for a few years now), which means I’m old enough to have my first colonoscopy.
But enough about that! Sept 12-17th, I return to the Grand Canyon Music Festival to teach the program I co-founded, “The Grand Canyon School of Rock,” and performing with renowned harmonica virtuosos, Robert Bonfiglio, with my friend, guitar genius Steve Benson and local cats John Vail on bass and Bryan Stone on drums. We perform at the Shrine of the Ages (South Rim) on Friday, Sept 16th and Saturday, Sept 17th.
Tickets can be purchased at www.grandcanyonmusicfest.org
9/20Chord Charts/Lead Sheets workshop for www.stringmasters.com
I will be teaching a virtual class for intermediate-advanced string players on how to read chord charts and lead sheets, a skill that is essential for all modern musicians, but often overlooked in traditional string education. Reserve your spot in the class HERE!
9/30 & 10/01 Stratospheerius at Ganja Grail at Harry’s Hill
It’s been a while, but Stratospheerius is excited to return to Harry’s Hill in Starks, ME for two performances at one of their awesome festivals, Ganja Grail! Friday 9/30 @7PM and 10/1 @ 12 PM. Tickets for the whole weekend can be purchased at harryshill.net/ganja-grail/.
10/1 Stratospheerius Sonic Voyage Fest Stone Church. NH with Dark Beauty and Dreadnaught Stone Church is an old Church in Newmarket, NH that has been converted to a music venue. We love playing here, and have not done so since the first Sonic Voyage Fest in 2015. We are excited about coming back and performing with our friends, the newly relocated New Hampshirites Dark Beatry and local favorites Dreadnaught! Come out to the show! Tickets available HERE!
10/12 with Stratospheerius/District 97 Kennet Flash. Kennet Sq, PA, 8 P.M.
Stratospheerius is psyched to be opening for one of our favorite prog bands, Chicago-based District 97!
We are major fanboys of these guys, and believe the are one of the most creative, innovative bands out there right now! Tickets & info
Renaissance Legacy Tour
After a long, 3-year break. I’m honored to once again be joining the legendary Annie Haslam and Renaissance, along with my brothers in Sweet Plantain and the Renaissance Chamber Orchestra, for their East Coast “Legacy” tour celebrating Annie’s 75th birthday.
What makes this even more special is that my good friend Rachel Flowers will be opening for us on October 20th, and I’ve just been asked to sit in with her and Annie on an intimate song. More info to come…
10/19 Patchogue Theater. Long Island
10/20 Count Basie Theater. Red Bank, NJ
10/21 Keswick Theater Glenside PA
10/27 The Egg. Troy, NY
10/28 Ridgefield Theater, CT
10/29 Town Hall, NYC
11/18 with Steve Sandberg. Miller Symphony Hall. Allentown, PA
I am excited to be joining Emmy award-winning jazz pianist/composer Steve Sandberg (best known as the guy who scored Dora the Explorer!)
and his quartet for this concert at Miller Theater, home of the Allentown Symphony.
Friday, Nov 18th at 7 P.M.
Miller Symhpony Hall 23 N 6th St, Allentown, PA 18101 Tickets and info
In the Studio
I first discovered the music of Dave Kerzner in 2014, when I got hooked on “Sound of Contact,” the band he created with Phil Collin’s son, Simon on lead vocals and drums. Dave was the co-writer, producer and keyboardist of their phenomenal album, “Dimensionaught.” Since then, he has released a series of great solo albums, and I’m fortunate to have contributed strings to two of them. Her is his latest release, “The Travekler,” featuring strings from me, cello from Ruti Celli, Fernando Perdomo on guitar, Nick D’Virgilio and Marco Minneman on drums, Durga McBroom (Pink Floyd/Rolling Stones) on backup vocals, John Davidson from Yes on guest vocals, Matt Dorsey (Sound of Contact) on bass, Billy Sherwood (Yes) on bass, and more guests.
