On Friday, December 12, 7:30PM to 11PM Guy Klucevsek will perform in a tribute to Teiji Ito. The performance will take place at the Japan Society.
Location: 333 East 47th Street, New York, NY 10017
Phone: (212) 832-1155, Box Office: (212) 715-1258
Monday – Friday, 11 am – 6 pm, Weekends, 11 am – 5 pm.
Membership: (212) 715-1270
Toyota Language Center: (212) 715-1256
The late Japanese American composer Teiji Ito (1935–82) was known as the founding composer of the experimental new music scene and for his scores for the avant-garde films by his former wife, Maya Deren. The fourth in the Tzadik Music Label series curated by John Zorn, this is the first ever large-scale tribute to the music of Ito, one of the pioneering composers who incorporated musical instruments from many world cultures into his work.
Creating an innovative combination of sounds, Ito had a diverse career composing music for stage and film, including the original Broadway production of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. The evening will be divided into three programs, music for theater, film and dance, exploring the range of Ito’s music as studied, arranged and performed by Guy Klucevsek and Steve Gorn and their ensembles. The marathon concert will also feature a discussion with John Zorn and the musicians who worked with Ito himself. The concert is presented in association with Tzadik.
The concert program will be as follows:
-Music for Theater – The Coach with the Six Insides
(Music from King Ubu both performed by Guy Klucevsek and ensemble)
-Music for Film – Lifelines (Ed Emshwiller, 1960)
-Meditation on Violence (Maya Deren, 1948)
-Arabesque for Kenneth Anger (Marie Menken, 1961)
-Moonplay (Marie Menken, 1964–66)
-Music for Dance – Watermill
(performed by Watermill Ensemble and directed by Steve Gorn)
Tickets: $35/$30 Japan Society members. Buy Tickets Online or call the Japan Society Box Office at (212) 715-1258, Monday – Friday 11 am – 6 pm, Weekends 11 am – 5 pm.
The event on December 12 at Japan Society will be a memorial tribute to Teiji Ito. For more information on Teiji, please refer to: http://www.japansociety.org/content.cfm/event_detail?eid=298be318 or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teiji_Ito.
Guy Klucevsek, a Staten Island resident for 20 years now, is a composer who’s created a unique repertoire for the accordion through his own work and by commissioning over 50 works from noted composers. He’s worked with groups and individuals as diverse as John Zorn, the Kronos Quartet, Anthony Braxton, Relâche, Pauline Oliveros, and Jubilant Sykes. In 1987, he instigated a project called Polka From the Fringe, for which he invited 30 composers to contribute. The band version was presented on the 1988 Next Wave Festival at BAM, and was recorded in two volumes, which were named “Best Recordings of 1992” by John Schaefer of New Sounds, WNYC-FM. In all, Klucevsek has released 19 recordings as soloist/leader. Transylvanian Softwear was cited as a 1995 Recording of Special Merit in Stereo Review. He’s also performed on John Williams’s scores for the Steven Spielberg films The Terminal, Munich and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, as well as on Broadway in Fiddler on the Roof, Victor/Victoria and Piaf.
Highlights of Ito’s career include: “Watermill,” written for a Jerome Robbins ballet of the same name, still in the repertoire of the New York City Ballet; music for the Broadway production of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” and the music for numerous films by the pioneering avant-garde film-maker, Maya Deren, who was his wife.
Guy is arranging music for his score to “The Coach with the Six Insides,” which was a music theatre work inspired by James Joyce’s “Finnegan’s Wake,” conceived, choreographed and directed by Jean Erdman. It ran for over a year in it’s original production in 1962; the show won an Obie Award. Guy played in the 1979 revival, with Teiji in the band, which also ran for more than a year. Because of the setting in Dublin, the “Coach” score is heavily influenced by Irish music, with waltzes, jigs, and hornpipes. The original band was a trio of multi-instrumentalists who between them played over 25 instruments, including clarinet, flute, percussion, guitar, accordion, banjo, piano, fiddle. One of the innovations of the score is Teiji’s inclusion of instruments from outside the Irish tradition, e.g., Japanese taiko drum and hichiriki (double reed), steel drum, marimbula (a gigantic thumb piano that you sit on like a shoe box to play).
Guy’s other contribution is a suite from “King Ubu,” which Teiji created as a tape score for a 1961 theatre production, for which he won an individual Obie Award. Teiji played over 20 instruments to create the score, recording layer-on-layer, way before that kind of thing was common. Unlike “Coach,” none of the music for “King Ubu” is notated, so I am transcribing and arranging 20+ minutes of music for an ensemble which includes voice, clarinet, soprano sax, flute, music box, midi keyboard, steel drum, marimbula, djembe (African drum), guitar, xylophone. The range of Ito’s music is wide and deep. He was an innovator without trying to be one, and he was seemingly incapable of writing an unoriginal piece.”He was a close and dear friend, and one of the most amazing and wonderful human beings, as well as musicians, I have ever met. He is sorely missed. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to hear the music for theatre, dance and film played live.” said Guy Klucevsek,
Established in 1907, New York’s Japan Society has evolved into North America’s single major producer of high-quality content on Japan for an English-speaking audience. Presenting over 100 events annually through well established Corporate, Education, Film, Gallery, Lectures, Performing Arts and Innovators Network programs, the Society is an internationally recognized nonprofit, nonpolitical organization that provides access to information on Japan, offers opportunities to experience Japanese culture, and fosters sustained and open dialogue on issues important to the U.S., Japan, and East Asia.
Among the premier institutions in the U.S. for the presentation of Japanese art, Japan Society organizes three world-class exhibitions annually. Every season, the Society presents over 30 performances of Japan’s traditional performing arts and cutting-edge contemporary dance, music and theater in its 262-seat auditorium. Film screenings range from classics series to festivals of today’s most popular new cinema. In addition, high-profile conferences, symposia and receptions offer unparalleled access to international business and policy leaders. Further educational programs include cultural lectures, student and teacher workshops, family programs that explore Japan’s culture and customs, and language classes at the world-renowned Toyota Language Center. One of Japan Society’s newest endeavors, the U.S.-Japan Innovators Network, identifies and connects leading social entrepreneurs from every sector to improve mutual understanding and the quality of life throughout the world.
The Japan Society was founded on May 19, 1907, by a group of prominent New York business people and philanthropists, many of whom shaped the policies of exchange and collaboration that guided it through the 1930s until the outbreak of World War II. After the war, activities slowly resumed, and the stewardship of John D. Rockefeller 3rd from 1952-78 led to a unified vision and a firm financial foundation with a revitalized mission “to bring the people of the United States and Japan closer together in appreciation and understanding of each other.”
Built on land donated by Rockefeller, Japan Society’s landmark building was designed by architect Junzo Yoshimura and opened in 1971 as the first building by a leading Japanese architect in New York City. Located near the United Nations on 47th Street and First Avenue across the street from Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza park–just a short walk from Grand Central Station–activities at Japan Society are set against a stunning backdrop of indoor gardens, a reflecting pool and a waterfall. Furnished with a superb collection of tables, chairs and benches designed by master woodworker George Nakashima, the facilities include a 262-seat theater, art gallery, language center, library, conference facilities and over three floors of administrative space. The classic elegance and simplicity of Yoshimura’s original vision has been preserved even as the building has been enhanced by a substantial renovation completed in 1998. In 2006 the Society opened a high-end boutique shop nestled on the second floor next to the gallery.
