Event Link: https://www.kulcher.org/kip-peltoniemi-concert-11-23-24/
FEE: Adult tickets are $10 in advance or $12 at the door ($2 member discount); student tickets are $5.
Kip Peltoniemi Concert
Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024
Music Begins @ 7:30PM
The New York Mills Regional Cultural Center’s 2024 Fall Concert Series continues with Kip Peltoniemi on Saturday, November 23, 2024 at 7:30 p.m. This concert is co-presented by the New York Mills Friends of the Library and will take place at the Cultural Center.
Adult tickets are $10 in advance or $12 at the door ($2 member discount); student tickets are $5. You can buy your tickets online (click below) or get them at the door. Doors open at 7:00 p.m. and music starts at 7:30. Light refreshments and cash bar available.
Kip Peltoniemi defies stereotypes as an accordion player. “I hardly play any accordion music,” he confesses. “I play music from many genres—ethnic Finnish tunes, blues, country, rock, my own compositions, and more. I just see the accordion as a means of expression—its sound can be big or subtle.”
Kip has performed in several states, recorded in Finland, and his songs have received airplay in many European countries. His album “Minnesota Tango” was named “Folk Album of the Year” in 2002 by Helsingin Sabomat, Finland’s largest newspaper. Kip has been the subject of two documentaries on YLE, Finland’s public television network, and he has also been a guest faculty member at Finland’s top music school, Sibelius Academy in 1995 and 1999.
“I hope to keep playing as long as I keep getting ideas,” he says. “And I think about music pretty much all the time.”
Kip was inspired by his Finnish culture and family heritage. He started out playing guitar, but the strings were so high off the neck that it was nearly unplayable for him. Although he eventually got a better guitar, this initial experience made him question stringed instruments as a musical outlet. When he started hearing Finnish accordion music in the Sixties, he gradually made the switch to button accordion. Over the years, he has learned to play several types of button accordions.
Kip’s long relationship with folk, country, Finnish, and Nordic music began in Wadena, Minnesota in the early 1960s when as a teenager he began performing with his brother Eric at county fairs, dances, township halls…and even boxing matches. In their college years, Kip and Eric went on to perform at folk festivals, Twin City coffeehouses, and regional clubs and resorts. They soon developed a repartee and talents for mixing entertaining comedy with hot instrumentals and more serious music. Since then, Kip has performed mostly as a solo concert artist throughout the United States and infuses his popular acts with tall tales and humor.
