Just in time for a post-election musical tension-reliever, Hiroya Tsukamoto, widely-acclaimed guitarist and composer, is scheduled to perform Thursday in Salina.
The performance is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 901 Beatrice. Admission will be a $15 or greater donation at the door.
Hiroya composes soul-soothing natural tapestries and plays them with singular skill and layered musical lines, creating the effect of many musicians in one. He is also this year’s second-place winner of the nationally and internationally-known finger-picking competition at the Walnut Valley Acoustic Music Festival.
Tsukamoto is originally from Kyoto, Japan. In 2000, he received a scholarship to Berklee College of Music and came to the United States. Since then, he has lived in New York and performed internationally including several appearances with his group at Blue Note in New York and released six albums as a leader. He has also appeared on major international television networks, including NHK (Japanese National Television) and South Korea’s EBS.
He takes his listeners on an innovative, impressionistic journey filled with earthy, organic soundscapes, imparting a mood of peace and tranquility.
Celine Keating, reviewer for Acoustic Guitar Magazine, says, “Hiroya Tsukamoto plays with fluid mastery, pristine tone, and great warmth.”
Among local comments at Tsukamoto’s recent earlier concert in Salina, after his Walnut Valley finger-picking win, was “I came for guitar music, all right, but was stunned at the power of the music and the intensity and clarity of his connection with the audience. He is a must-see.”