ORONO – Art Garfunkel will rev up for a long-awaited reunion tour with his old pal and musical partner Paul Simon when he performs at the Maine Center for the Arts’ Opening Gala on Saturday.

Rumors of a Simon and Garfunkel reunion flared again with the duo’s performance in February when they were given Lifetime Achievement Awards at the 45th Annual Grammy Awards.

Simon and Garfunkel made a formal announcement Tuesday in New York, The Associated Press reported. Garfunkel hinted last week in a telephone interview with the Bangor Daily News that a reunion tour was more than mere fodder for fans’ Internet chat rooms.

“It’s a subject of great interest to me,” said Garfunkel. “We have met lately and talked. It may or may not be, but there should be a definitive answer soon. The Grammy show and the week of rehearsals before was a very pleasant experience.”

Whether Garfunkel’s recent excursion into songwriting will affect the dynamics between the duo, whose personal and professional relationship reportedly has been fractious through the years, remains to be seen. Simon wrote the vast majority of songs he performed with Garfunkel and as a solo performer.

While Simon’s solo career has garnered more attention, Garfunkel has worked steadily alone since the two broke up 30 years ago.

Last year, Garfunkel released his 14th album without Simon. For the first time, Garfunkel recorded six of his own songs on “Everything Waits to Be Noticed.” He credited producer Billy Mann for encouraging him to record his own material and teaming him up with singers Maia Sharp and Buddy Mondlock for the album’s intricate harmonies.

“I’m excited,” he said of his new career as a songwriter. “It says that growth carries on if you go for it. It’s a new page to turn for me.”

He confessed, however, that all he knows about Bangor he learned from Roger Miller’s song, “King of the Road.”

“Third boxcar midnight train, destination Bang-er, Maine. King of the road,” Garfunkel sang during the interview last week. “I think that’s all I know about Maine, besides lobsters.”

The MCA show will combine Simon and Garfunkel standards with songs off the new album. A four-piece band will backup Garfunkel’s solo performance Saturday.

Garfunkel observed earlier this year that a different side of his personality – one that still surprises him – emerges when he performs, even if it’s just over the phone for a reporter.

“I’m contemplative and I’m my philosopher father’s son, but at show time, I take the leap of faith [and risk] of being beautiful as a singer, which is a tricky thing for a man to do. I step out of my skin and I’m not the me I know, the prosaic one. I’m this other guy.”

That “other guy” and Garfunkel’s great name recognition is why he was chosen to open MCA’s season this year, according to Adele Adkins, assistant director. The gala, which includes a pre-show reception and post-show dinner, is the MCA’s major fund-raising event of the year. Tickets for the concert, reception and dinner still are available, she said Monday.

Garfunkel said last week that he performs 60 to 70 solo shows similar to the one at MCA each year. He also takes walking vacations far from the concrete canyons of New York, his hometown. From the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, he walked across the United States in 40 “installments.” Late last month, he completed the 12th leg of his walk across Europe, crossing from France into Italy through the Italian Alps.

“The core of my life is family,” said Garfunkel. “That’s my main devotion. I want to be a good role model, follow my muse and do my work. … All of us as human beings walk around with secret antenna searching for truth and beauty all day long, all life long. When we find the genuine stuff, it connects.”

For Garfunkel, that connection is possible through music, whether he’s singing songs penned by Simon or his own.

Art Garfunkel will perform at 7 p.m. after a 5 p.m. reception. Dinner will follow the performance.