Walters State to host concert by classical guitarist

The Mountain Press

SEVIERVILLE — Walters State Community College welcomes classical guitarist Phil Weaver as part of its Global Connections initiative.

Weaver will perform at 6 p.m.Sept. 28 in Room 104 of the Conner-Short Center on the Sevier County Campus.

The performance is free and open to the public.

The Florida native is excited to bring what he considers a misunderstood genre to Walters State.

“Most people like classical music once they get over the baggage that often comes with it,” Weaver said. “People think of tuxedos and a snobby atmosphere. I don’t clutter up the show with any pretentiousness. I just present the music and tell a few stories about the pieces I’m performing. Classical guitar is really fun.”

Weaver will take audiences through four musical cultures and his performance will range from the Celtic lament “Farewell to Stromness” to “Tanz der Eskimos” by contemporary Russian composer Peotr Panin. The former was written by British composer Peter Maxwell Davies to protest uranium mining in the Orkney Islands, while Panin penned his work at the height of the cold war.

The concerts also includes “Prelude from the First Cello Suite,” composed by J.S. Bach and adapted into a guitar solo. Weaver will also perform “Allegro Vivo,” a Flamenco-inspired piece by Spanish composer Joaqin Turina.

Weaver is one of few classical artists on the Music Achiever listing at the Alabama Hall of Fame. He has performed for the Nonsuch Guitar Society in London and the Old Malthouse Music Society in Sawbridgeworth.

Weaver is the founder and artistic director of the “City Lights and Stars Series for Burritt Music” in Huntsville, Ala. He directs the guitar program at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

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