John Vidovic is a young musician and composer whose talents, work with students, and presence in various musical circles have already created a significant community impact. Mr. Vidovic specializes in classical guitar, music theory and composition. He has been playing guitar for 13 years and has accumulated 11 years of experience as a self-taught pianist.
John studied guitar with Michael McChesney and Barrios scholar Richard Stover, as well as voice with Christopher Bengochea. He graduated from UCLA with a BA in music composition. As a composer, he has 9 years of experience in composition ranging from solo works to large ensembles, including chorus, wind ensemble and orchestra. He has also conducted original choral composition under the direction of Maestro Donald Neuen with the UCLA Chamber Singers in Royce Hall in June 2011. Mr. Vidovic composed choral works for the West Valley College Chamber singers performed at the Finale concerts in May 2009 and December 2011. His main influences include music from Latin America, Romantic era music, and folk music from Eastern Europe.
.John’s performances include: 20 shows with rearranged instrumentation of The Fantastiks with the Los Altos Theatre Company, Tapestry Arts Festival in downtown San Jose during the past 4 years, 3 full solo guitar recitals at West Valley College in Saratoga, one full recital with a flutist at the same College, a recital featuring 30 minutes of original compositions at UCLA and many others. For the past 8 years he has also regularly appeared as a classical guitar performer at The Villages Golf and Country Club restaurant in San Jose and hosted numerous classical guitar open mic events for the South Bay Guitar Society. John was a featured performer in classical and flamenco guitar for the South Bay Guitar Society in San Pedro Square, San Jose in May of 2010. For one whole year he worked in Logic Pro with personal home setup for electronic music and film scoring, including a film for the San Diego 48 Hour Film Festival in 2009 and animation for a graduate student at UCLA.
He has sung with the West Valley College Chamber Singers, UCLA Chamber Singers, and Slavyanka Russian Men's chorus.
John’s teaching career includes 8 years of private instruction in guitar, ukulele, and piano. He has taught rock, jazz, pop and classical music to close to 25 students per week. Between 2008 and 2009 he also tutored students in music theory and composition through West Valley College.
John Vidovic has received several awards for his performances, including the Randy Spendlove scholarship in 2007. That same year, he was also selected to represent the South Bay Guitar Society for the Silicon Valley Arts Coalition and awarded West Valley College music scholarship. At the Solo Guitar and Ensemble Festival in San Jose he has received excellent and superior ratings in 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2011. John also received an Honorable Mention Award at the Music Teachers’ National Association “Young Composer” competition in 2005.
John has generously given to the community and helped establish an annual benefit concert to support St. Sava School in Saratoga. He currently resides in Campbell and teaches privately.
