Classical Guitarist Performs At Watauga County Public Library By Mike Shands High Country classical music fans have the chance to enjoy a rare treat this month at the Watauga County Public Library. Guitarist Peter Fletcher, who specializes in transcribing piano music for the guitar, will perform at the library Saturday, July 17 at 1 p.m. “I’m able to expand the repertoire of the guitar. It needs expanding,” Fletcher said. “And that kind of sets me apart from other guitarists. This is what I’m offering that’s unique. Guitarist Peter Fletcher will perform at the Watauga County Public Library Saturday, July 17 at 1 p.m. “I am basically playing music that has never been played on the guitar before. I play music that people can recognize and at the same time music that is new to the guitar that also fits the guitar well.” Fletcher, who started playing guitar when he was seven, earned a prize in the 1990 Music Teachers National Association Wurlitzer Competition. He also performed at the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts under the auspices of the International Music Foundation at the Chicago Cultural Center in an event that was broadcast live on the radio. In 1993 Fletcher studied with Nicholas Goluses at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y. and was twice recipient of an Eastman Graduate Award. He now holds the master of music degree from that school. Fletcher released his first CD, “The Art of Classical Guitar,” in 2000 and his second, “Mompou: Guitar Works,” in 2002. Next year he plans on releasing a recording featuring transcriptions of the French composer Erik Satie. “We are all very excited about this project because the music lends itself for the guitar, and it is very unique,” Fletcher said. The transcription process basically involves choosing composers, obtaining copies of their works and determining if the music would transcribe well to the guitar. Then it’s a matter of transcribing the notes to the proper key signature for the guitar. “I can pretty much look at a piece of music and tell whether it will fit the guitar, but you don’t always know if it’s going to work until you actually do it,” Fletcher said. “A lot of the stuff on the Mompou project has never been played on classical guitar before.” Starting Early Even though he didn’t come from a musical background Fletcher always wanted to play the guitar so his mother bought him a baritone ukulele when he was 7 years old. “It’s like a large ukulele,” Fletcher said. After a year of lessons his parents bought him a full-sized guitar, and he starting taking classical lessons with John Sutherland in the Atlanta area. “He exposed me to not only classical guitar, but classical music,” Fletcher said. “He told me that if I started with the classical style then other styles would come easier. “He encouraged me to get the recordings of Christopher Parkening, an American guitarist. At that point I really decided I loved classical guitar and wanted to stay with it and do that for a career.” At that point Fletcher was 10 years old. Five years later he performed his first concert, playing works by Bach, Torroba, Mudarra, Albeniz, Praetorius, Debussy, Grieg and Ruiz Pipo. As a performer in the Christopher Parkening Master Class he was chosen to play in the student recital two consecutive years, including 1988, when the class was broadcast on National Public Radio. “Christopher Parkening was a great influence to me and so was John Sutherland, who was my teacher through college,” Fletcher said. “I’m grateful to both of them.” In addition to Mompou and Satie Fletcher said he is interested in American classical composers such as Ives, Copeland and Ruggles. Fletcher spent several years teaching classical guitar at Emory University in Atlanta and to private students. During that time he started to increase his performance schedule, eventually building it up to hundreds of performances last year. He has played in at least 16 states, including New York, California, North Carolina, Maine, Alabama, Illinois, Iowa and Connecticut. Many of Fletcher’s performances occur at libraries, churches, universities and art centers that present concert series. This year’s touring schedule will include more than 100 concerts across the nation. “It is a lot of time on the road, but I love to perform and really enjoy traveling,” Fletcher said. “Doing back-to-back concerts can be very demanding. We try to book the dates in a way that makes sense logistically. “I must say that I get very excited the night before a tour and sad at the end of a tour.” Touring also gives Fletcher the opportunity to see the world and meet a wide variety of people while playing the guitar. “I enjoy communicating through the guitar and expressing myself artistically through recording and playing concerts,” he said. This month’s concert at the library will highlight solo classical guitar selections from “Mompou: Guitar Works,” “Sunburst” by Andrew York, “Leyenda” by Isaac Albeniz, new transcriptions of Satie and fellow French composer Francois Couperin, Manuel M. Ponce and 16th century lute transcriptions of John Dowland. The concert will culminate with “Koyunbaba,” a powerful new work for classical guitar by the Italian guitarist and composer Carlo Domeniconi. The library is located on the corner of Queen and Depot streets near downtown Boone. For more information about the performance call the library at (828) 264-8784.