Steve Suvada

Steven Suvada teaches guitar, electronic music, world music and music business at Elmhurst and also is on the faculties at William Rainey Harper College and Loyola University. He recently performed the world premiere of Michael Abels’ composition Aquadia with the Chicago Sinfonietta at Symphony Center in Chicago. He also has performed as a featured guitar soloist with the Joffrey Ballet at the prestigious Auditorium Theatre.

Suvada has appeared as a soloist with more than 30 different symphony orchestras across the country, including the Miami Beach Symphony (playing the Concerto in D, Op. 99 by Castelnuovo-Tedesco), DePaul University Symphony at Orchestra Hall (Concerto in D major by Vivaldi), the Civic Orchestra of Chicago (Concerto de Aranjuez by Rodrigo), and the Harper Symphony Orchestra (Concerto in A major, Op. 30 by Giuliani). Suvada has performed in music and fine arts festivals across the country, and his performances have taken him to such venues as Symphony Center in Chicago, Milwaukee Performing Arts Center, Auditorium Theatre in Chicago and the Folger-Shakespeare Theatre in Washington D.C.

He has appeared on TV and radio many times, including Weekend Edition on WLS TV (ABC Chicago) and WNIB FM/Chicago. This past summer he was featured in outdoor performances at music festivals in Minnesota, Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, Wisconsin and Illinois in front of crowds as large as 400,000.

Suvada started studying jazz guitar at the age of 7 and at 13 he started the commute to Chicago every Saturday with his dad to study with Richard Pick. He completed his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at DePaul University under the guidance of Pick. Suvada has gone on to perform in master classes for Manuel Barrueco, Charlie Byrd, Eduardo Fernandez, Lawrence Ferrara, Tom Leisek, Jeffrey Meyerriecks, Jorge Morel, Joe Pass and Myrna Sislen.

In addition, he has given master classes at Elmhurst and other colleges and universities throughout the country, including Loyola/Chicago, Rochester College in Minnesota, King’s College in Pennsylvania, the University of West Virginia, and North Carolina State University.

January of 2000 marked the release of his CD, The Interludes, in which he performs solo guitar works composed by Pick. As a composer, Suvada was a finalist in the OTI International Composers Festival (finishing third), and has had one of his works featured in the national magazine, Second Avenue. In addition to classical guitar performances, Suvada’s multifaceted career has involved accompanying such artists as Vic Damone, RoseMarie, Rosemary Clooney, Bo Didley, the Crystals, the O’Jays, the Chi-Lites, Lou Rawls, Les Elgart, Donna Summer, Mitzi Gaynor and Oprah Winfrey.