Guy Klucevsek

Biography

GUY KLUCEVSEK has created a unique repertoire for accordion through his own composing and by commissioning over 50 works from composers including John Zorn, Aaron Jay Kernis, Lois V Vierk, Fred Frith, Alvin Lucier, Mary Ellen Childs, William Duckworth, Jerome Kitzke, Stephen Montague and Somei Satoh.

His music/theatre pieces include  Squeezeplay -- collaborations with Mary Ellen Childs, David Dorfman and Dan Froot, Dan Hurlin, Victoria Marks and Claire Porter -- which The Village Voice called "delicious";  Hard Coal, with The Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble, and   Chinoiserie, with Ping Chong and Company,which was featured on the 1995 Next Wave Festival at BAM.

Solo performances include the 1998 Adelaide Festival in Australia, the Berlin Jazz Festival, New Music America, Serious Fun! at Lincoln Center, Spoleto Festival/USA, Bang on a Can, and the children’s television show Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood. He has also performed and/or recorded with Laurie Anderson, Anthony Braxton, Bill Frisell, Fred Frith, Robin Holcomb, the Kronos Quartet, Pauline Oliveros, Bobby Previte, Relâche and John Zorn.

He was a member of Dave Douglas's band, Charms of the Night Sky, since it's inception, and recorded three albums with the group.

In 1987, Klucevsek commissioned Polka From the Fringe, a collection of 32 post-modern two-steps by such composers as Carl Finch, Fred Frith, Christian Marclay and Elliott Sharp, which he presented at the 1988 Next Wave Festival, and has performed around the world with his group, Ain’t Nothin’ But A Polka Band.

In 1996, Klucevsek formed The Accordion Tribe, an international line-up of composer/accordionists Maria Kalaniemi (Finland), Lars Hollmer (Sweden), Bratko Bibic (Slovenia), Otto Lechner (Austria), and Klucevsek (USA). Following a highly successful, 18-concert, 3-week European tour, Intuition (Germany) released Accordion Tribe,a CD made up of live recordings from the tour.

Klucevsek has released 19 recordings as soloist/leader, including  Polka Dots & Laser Beams and  Who Stole the Polka?,< which were chosen as the best recordings of 1992 by John Schaefer on the nationally-syndicated radio program New Sounds, and  Transylvanian Softwear, which was cited as a 1995 Recording of Special Merit in Stereo Review. He can also be heard on the compilations  Planet Squeezebox on Ellipsis Arts and  <Great Jewish Music: Burt Bacharach on Tzadik.