David Fiuczyinski

Artistic Director 

Growing up in two different cultures, David "FuZe" Fiuczynski was born in the United States and grew up in Germany, where he was always interested in mixing and “fuzing” different music elements. His music is often described as unclassifiable, challenging, and invigorating. In 1994, he collaborated with keyboardist John Medeski of Medeski Martin & Wood on the album Lunar Crush, a tribute to Tony Williams's Lifetime band. His recent music melds traditional melodic elements from the Middle East, Asia, India, and Eastern Europe, with rock, funk, electronica, microtonal classical harmonies, and other styles. Fiuczynski leads the underground cult band Screaming Headless Torsos and has worked with Jack DeJohnette, Rudresh Mahanthappa, John Zorn, Stewart Copeland, Meshell Ndegeocello, Bernie Worrell, Dennis Chambers, and many more. He has performed at festivals worldwide.

Fiuczynski is a Guggenheim Fellow and plays double neck-fretted, fretless, and 1/4 tone guitars in order to interpret and compose microtonal melodies and harmonies.

“Much of my musical inspiration comes from non-musical sources: paintings and East Asian and Arabic calligraphy and architecture. I love the colors of Matisse, Van Gogh, Gauguin, the Fauvists and German expressionists, the jagged explosions of Peter Voulkos’s pottery, and the delicate restraint of Taoist poetry. I also really admire musicians with a unique and fiery sound like Eric Dolphy, Nina Hagen, and Don Pullen."

Read about David Fiuczynski's Guggenheim Fellowship, which encompasses the concept of the Planet MicroJam Institute, and the concert premiering his Guggenheim composition.

Watch Fiuczynski and Planet MicroJam Institute perform his arrangement of "Drunken Longing" with Yazhi Guo: