Accordionist Guy Klucevsek is always involved in unique musical projects featuring the accordion. The Hymnopedists, a duo consisting of Guy and toy piano/pianist Isabel Ettenauer will appear in their International Debut on March 2, 2012 at the Vienna International Accordion Festival.The Hymnopedists were born out of an April, 2011 music theatre project called “Industrious Angels,” by writer/actress Laurie McCants.

Guy Klucevsek, commissioned to write music for the piece, composed a score for violin, piano/toy piano and accordion, in a series of solos, duos, and trios. For the recording of the score for the production, he invited Austrian toy piano specialist and pianist Isabel Ettenauer to play in the trio. Guy and Isabel enjoyed playing together so much that they decided to form a duo to continue playing Guy’s music.

Guy Klucevsek, is perhaps best known in Europe through his recordings, tours, and film with his Accordion Tribe project, from 1996-2009, and his legendary Polka From the Fringe project of the early 1990s. For Guy, The Hymnopedists represents a chance to perform music of his which is not so well-known in Europe – music written originally for bands, or chamber ensembles, or duos of various combinations. Guy that feels Isabel Ettenauer is an ideal partner for this collaboration.

At the same time as he was composing the score for “Industrious Angels,” Guy was writing material for his next recording, “The Multiple Personality Reunion Tour,” and one set of pieces on that album is called “Three Hymnopedies,” in tribute to one of Guy’s favorite composers, Erik Satie, composer of “Gymnopédies” (from a Greek word meaning dance). Being an inveterate punster, Guy could not resist this play on words. The title refers to two areas where Klucevsek feels a special kinship: song (hymn) and dance (ped, or “foot”).

When searching for a name for the duo, Klucevsek landed on “The Hymnopedists,” as a tribute to both Satie, and to the old touring song-and-dance teams of vaudeville. The program consists of duos for accordion and piano/toy piano, as well as solo works for accordion, piano and toy piano. Included will be a suite from “Industrious Angels.”