Guy Klucevsek celebrated his 70th Birthday on Saturday, February,25, 2017 at the Snug Harbor Cultural Center in Staten Island. Guy is an established musician/composer with an international reputation. He was awarded a United States Artists Fellowship in 2010 which has a $50,000 no-strings prize.
At the concert he performed with Todd Reynolds, violin, and Kamala Sankaram, voice and accordion (picture below). The program was a presentation of the Newhouse Center’s PASS program.
Excerpts from the Staten Isand Advance, Micheal Fressola: “The composer and his wife, a librarian, settled in St. George more than 30 years ago. He made his local debut at Snug Harbor in the 1980s, around the time that he headlined ‘Polka From the Fringe’ at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Next Wave Festival.
He’ll be performing fresh material (new music has defined his nearly 50-year career) from a recent album, “Teetering on the Edge of Normalcy” (Starkland). As longtime fans are well aware, Klucevsek likes sly titles; he called one 1990s compilation “Flying Vegetables of the Apocalypse.”
The February 25th birthday program — it is the eve of composer’s birthday — had one rearview-mirror section, a group of pieces dating to 1990s. Plus, one work-in-progress: “Pauline, Pauline,” dedicated to the late fellow accordionist, composer and colleague Pauline Oliveros, a seminal presence in new music. Oliveros, died last fall at age 84.
Klucevsek, who grew up in the Slovenian polka-crazy enclaves of Pennsylvania, came of age in the new music/downtown New York creative circles of the late 1960s and 1970s.
His idea, not so radical today as it was then (although it is still surprising) was that the accordion has depths, range and musical possibilities that aren’t instantly evident in its traditional roles.
The list of celebrated colleagues with whom he has worked, performed and/or recorded with, reads like an A-to-Z of new-music circles, from Laurie Anderson to John Zorn.
In another and somewhat unexpected musical realm, he has played under composer/conductor John Williams, of movie score fame. He will join the Boston Pops this spring in a concert celebrating Williams’ 85th birthday.”
Vernon Reid, who attended the concert, said, “Violinist Todd Reynolds, composer and accordionist Guy Klucevsek, vocalist & accordionist Kamala Sankaram played a fabulous Saturday night concert at Snug Harbor Cultural Center in Shaolin in celebration of Guy’s 70th Birthday. All 3 displayed lyrical mastery of interpretation of Guy’s stylistically wide ranging music. My favorite piece of the evening was their moving tribute to composer Pauline Olivieros.”
Guy said, “My friends and amazing bandmates, Todd Reynolds and Kamala Sankaram, who made my 70th birthday concert such a joyous and transporting experience: Thank you for pouring out your souls for us!”
Guy will perform with the Boston Symphony Orchestra ccelebrating John William’s 85th birthday on Saturday, April 8, 2017, in Boston, MA. This concert will include over 55 years of material from John’s six decades as a film composer and will be recorded for a CD release in the spring. For tickets: 888-266-1200
For further information: gklucevsek@mac.com
Picture below:
Todd Reynolds, Guy Klucevsek and Kamala Sankaram.
