If your heart is in the right place, the flute will take care of itself - Paul Thompson (Navajo Tribe)
Gary Stroutsos performs world flute music drawn from traditional cultures. Evoking a spirit of place, and the voices of the land, his work includes internationally acclaimed recordings at sacred sites.
Gary is currently presenting his work in a series of concerts and talks designed for educational, cultural and historical institutions and performing arts centers. His music was showcased in the Ken Burns PBS documentary “Lewis and Clark: Journey of the Corps of Discovery” which led to a command performance at the White House for President Bill Clinton. Songs and stories from this experience will be part of his presentation.
Originally trained as a Jazz flutist, (studying with Jazz master flutist and composer James Newton, and Afro-Cuban flute master Danilo Lozano) Stroutsos’ work now features American Indian music and Chinese, Cuban and American Jazz stylings, reflecting his diverse musical influences. His audiences have the rare opportunity to hear ancient Chinese Bamboo flutes seldom heard outside the walls of China.
Himself a Greek-Italian American, Stroutsos is acknowledged to have made a distinctive contribution to the preservation of American Indian music and culture, and plays with some of the finest American Indian artists working today, including collaborating with Navajo flute maker Paul Thompson, a work which expresses the enduring legacy of the American Indian flute and its recent revitalization into today’s society.
