Guest musician Robert Wetzel performed pieces by classical artists such as Bach, Debussy and Vivaldi on guitar to lend a new perspective of the instrument. 

The recital took place Saturday, March 28 as part of the music department’s annual Guitar Festival. 

“The purpose of the Guitar Festival is to bring the guitar, which is probably the most popular instrument in the culture, to the campus in ways the culture usually doesn’t see,” said guitar instructor Patrick Kerber. 

Wetzel performed pieces that were not originally written for guitar. By translating a piece through a different instrument, Wetzel feels he is offering a new light to a classical piece. 

“I don’t choose anything unless I think they’re really good arrangements and that the guitar is kind of expressing a different incarnation of that particular musical composition,” said Wetzel. “It’s interesting that when we do translate from one instrument to another, often it brings hidden meanings or feelings or beauty out that was not so much noticed in the original instrument.” 

Pieces from composers of different countries, time periods and instruments were chosen to offer a variety of translated classics.

“This is exactly what I wanted to see,” said Kerber. “Robert brought for us a mixture of very traditional music. The music in the beginning [“Aria con variazioni detta” by Girolamo Frescobaldi] was originally written for the lute, and then we had a Bach piece [“Cello Suite No. 1, BWV 1007”] originally written for cello and arranged for the guitar. The Spanish music, the sonata [“Sonata in F Major” by Sylvius Leopold Weiss] was originally for piano. The French music [“The Girl with the Flaxen Hair” by Claude Debussy and “Pavane for a Dead Princess” by Maurice Ravel] was all originally for piano. We brought a very high level of guitar performance and guitar composition to the campus.” 

Kerber was pleased with the turnout; though he was expecting between 10 and 15 people to attend the recital, there were 45 people in the audience. Many in attendance were music majors interested in hearing familiar pieces in a different light.

“I haven’t been to any of the performances yet this semester, so I thought, ‘Since I’m not doing anything, I might as well go,’” said Alexis Dunn, freshman music major. “I think it was great. It was very beautiful. It made me feel like I should practice more.” 

The next performance in the Guitar Festival series is the Southeastern Guitar Ensemble, scheduled for Wednesday, April 15 at 7:30 p.m. in the Pottle Auditorium. For more information on upcoming performances, visit the music department page on the university website for a schedule of events. 

Classical guitarist Robert Wetzel traveled to Southeastern to take part
in the annual Guitar Festival.Wetzel transformed classical pieces traditionally not
written for guitar into a unique guitar performance.He was mentored by the legendary
Romeros guitar dynasty and has grown in prestige ever since.
The Lion’s Roar / Melanie Mann