steve gruzas potter

I am an American composer-pianist based in London. Originally from northern California, I came to London 17 years ago to do a PhD, which I earned in April 2011, and happily have stayed - I now divide my time between leading and performing with choral groups, creating and performing as a pianist, and collaborating with theatre-makers and artists. My piano music draws classical, jazz, folk & funk repertoire into a world of extreme gentleness, sublimating boundless energy into relaxing mysterious forms. I draw on deep study of several Western and non-Western musical traditions to bring quiet kaleidoscopic qualities and a wabi-sabi aesthetic to Mozart, Brahms, Gershwin, Joni Mitchell, Phil Ochs, Nirvana, Stevie Wonder, Parliament and others. My compositions for larger ensembles have been performed in renowned and flexible spaces, including Whitechapel Bell Foundry, Ambika P3, Village Underground, and the streets of Taranto, Italy. They have been taken up by festivals in Holland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Canada and the US, by groups including Musarc, London Sinfonietta, Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, New York City Opera, Arditti String Quartet, International Ensemble Modern Academy, ASKO Ensemble, and members of Philharmonia Orchestra. My performing life straddles several communities of artists and improvisers, and encompasses piano, keyboards, accordion, voice, objects, samplers, conducting and theatre. I play accordion with London Improvisers Orchestra, and keyboards with Velodrome (Katherine Christie Evans), as well as performing with Musarc and Clapham Sings. I played keyboards with Paul Hillier and Theatre of Voices, coached by Steve Reich, in a major festival of the composer’s work in Holland. I have premiered countless solo piano works by living composers. As an accompanist I have 25+ years of experience, having played keyboards for musical theatre productions of Company (Chico City Light Opera), Billy Elliot (Orchard House School), Pinocchio (Strangeface Theatre), Pirates of Penzance (CCLO), and many others. I have studied Javanese gamelan for several years, at Cornell University (US), Southbank Centre, and York University (UK). I also have an ongoing interest in Senegalese Sabar, and have taken classes in Dakar and London (SOAS). I teach composition at Guildhall School of Music & Drama, where I supervise doctoral students working on fascinating creative projects involving free jazz, spoken word in electronic music, nuevo tango, one-handed piano composition, and notions of nostalgia in new music. I previously taught at Cornell, Goldsmiths & King’s College London, and Auburn Correctional Facility through the Cornell Prison Education Program. In addition to higher education teaching, I teach piano privately to children & adults. I am originally from Chico, California.