Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Peter Xifaras. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Peter, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

The most meaningful project to date is ‘Children of Conflict’ – a project for which I composed the music, mixed the recording and produced the album. It is a contemporary work for social justice to bring attention to the plight of ‘children of conflict’ around the globe. It is comprised of six short movements: Proloque, Father’s Lament, Lost-Innocence, Desolation, Mother’s Lament & Epilogue. Each movement is recorded in a 4K music-video that plays an integral role in reinforcing the music’s message:

The 6 movement work was recorded in Prague by the The Czech National Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Marek Štilec.

As the Afghanistan pull out unfolded, heart wrenching images of falling bodies from planes, mothers handing their babies over the wall to soldiers, and terrified Afghans being crushed to death where so many would be left behind left me asking, is this the kind of world we want ?

As quick as it was in the news cycle, it was out as the media moved on to the Russian/Ukraine conflict, presenting once again the same story the world has grown tired of, more suffering of the innocents. And the pattern will continue as the media moved on to the next bright shiny object in the news cycle.

I was compelled to create something artistic, this musical work with corresponding hard-hitting videos, that would remind people and bring attention to the plight of ‘Children Of Conflict’ around the globe. It’s an important message of the innocents who every day suffer all over the world who are at the mercy of rogue dictators and corrupt governments. To remind people of these children whose lives have been indescribably altered, their parents either gone, or so traumatized they are struggling to simply cope with the ever changing patchwork their lives and futures have become.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

At the age of nine I began taking guitar lessons and by my early teens I was doing gigs in local night clubs with a rock band. This pretty much solidified my future pathway as I decided to pursue music as a career. In high school I auditioned for the music curriculum at the State University and was told I needed to trade in my Gibson Les Paul for a Classical guitar in order to be accepted into the program. I heeded their advice and majored in guitar performance.

When the digital revolution arrived it opened a Pandora’s box for creative musicians. I assembled a recording studio in my home and started a record label, Music With No Expiration®. I currently record and release original compositions as well as those of my alter ego symphoneX orchestra®. One of the great things we do at the label is invite guest artists to appear on many of the releases. And the genres we record run the gamut from classical to jazz-fusion to cinematic to spoken word.

The one thing I’m most proud of is we try to create artistic recordings that will stand the test of time – my definition of true art, hence, the name of the record label – Music With No Expiration®.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

As an independent musical artist, I can attest to the fact that streaming has been devastating to this community of creatives. Generating fractions of pennies for streams doesn’t begin to cover the cost of recording, manufacturing, releasing and the marketing of an album. My advice on how to best support your favorite musical artists is to buy their music and merch. With a CD and/or Vinyl, you get a tangible physical product with cool cover art and often interesting liner notes. Not to mention a better sound quality as streamed music is often compressed with a limited frequency range.

Supporting artists in this manner enables them to finance their next project much to the benefit of their fans.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

I have two goals I would like to achieve:

1. creating musical works that can stand the test of time. While there is nothing wrong with creating projects that have a limited window of consumption, my goal is to have listeners in the future appreciate the work long after I am gone. I am not saying that I will achieve this goal, however, it is what I am striving for.

2. creating musical works that have social significance. With the Children of Conflict project, I created 6 music-videos that greatly increased the music’s message – that of social justice. Music combined with film can be a powerful force for change.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://peterxifaras.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/xifaraspeter/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PeterXifaras/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-xifaras-739093135/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/PeterXifaras
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@peterxifaras8851
• Other: https://symphony-x.com https://musicwithnoexpiration.com