Professor Dan Garcia performing at the recital hosted for Hispanic Heritage Month. SARAH ROLKA / THE QUADRANGLE
Sarah Rolka, Staff Writer
In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, Daniel Garcia, adjunct associate professor of music, performed a classical guitar recital on campus. At the recital on Oct. 28, many of the pieces performed had origins from various Spanish-speaking countries.
The music not only spanned across multiple countries in Latin America and Spain, but across time periods as well. Garcia spoke to The Quadrangle about the origins of the music he performed at the recital as well as why he chose them specifically.
“I played classical music from Spain; so I went through all the periods – Renaissance, Baroque, Classical and Romantic,” Garcia said. “And then I played music from Latin America – contemporary and Brazilian, and some waltzes from Venezuela…Because it’s [for] Hispanic Heritage Month , so I try to focus for this time on music for Spain and Latin America.”
The recital included various pieces from Latin composers like Luis de Narváez, Gaspar Sanz, Fernando Sor, Issac Albéniz, Leo Brower, Annibal Augusto Sardinha (Garoto) and Antonio Lauro.
Garcia additionally touched on why he specifically chose to play this type of music with a classical guitar, which is the instrument the genre of music is traditionally played on.
“I like to play music from Spain, and then I love Brazilian and South American [music], so that’s always my focus,” Garcia said.
Garcia also commented on how he felt performing and interpreting the music, and touched on what he hoped the students in the audience might take away from the performance.
“I like to interpret the music the best that I can, and especially here where there’s a lot of students having an interest in guitar and classical guitar, because most students don’t know anything about classical guitar,” Garcia said. “I think it’s to open their eyes and ears to that.”
Mark Pottinger, Ph.D., department chair of the communication, sound and media arts department and professor of music and musicology, spoke to The Quadrangle on hosting the recital.
“The communication, sound and media arts department as well as the English and modern languages and literature department [sponsored the event],” Pottinger said. “Evelyn Scaramella, [Ph.D.], contacted me about an opportunity to co-host a recital that was dedicated to Hispanic Heritage Month. So I contacted Dean Kelly [of KSAS] and she said ‘Let’s do it.’”
Pottinger touched on how he felt watching the performance as well as some thoughts on the relations between the music and its origins.
“That was fantastic, it was really great,” Pottinger said. “This is music that has a tradition and experience in an environment. So, be it [music] from Latin America or Spain – or from various parts of the Spanish speaking world, there’s something that continues. In all these pieces is this arpeggio where it’s constantly [reprising]. So, there’s something about that within the Spanish speaking community that seems to highlight that, especially within the use of the guitar. It was fascinating to see how these different styles, no matter the country, there’s a similar language that seems to highlight that sound, and it’s on the guitar. It’s a sense where they’re trying to elicit something from this instrument that has a connection to all these different regions.”
Kelis Dennis, a freshman psychology major, commented on how they felt about the performance once it was over.
“It was really nice, it was really calming in a way,” Dennis said. “Like a lullaby.”