Southeastern Louisiana University

Guitar Quartet invited to perform at USC

Contact: Christina Chapple

10/30/08

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     The invitation was extended to the quartet – Southeastern graduate student Matthew Aguilar of Walker, music major Matthew Spears of Shreveport, and guitar faculty members David Bryan and Patrick Kerber – by USC professor James Smith, who was a guest performer at the 2008 Southeastern Guitar Festival last April.

     “I thought they were an ensemble of huge promise,” said Smith, head of USC’s prestigious guitar department. “They play their very original repertoire with virtuosity, high energy and solid musicality. I invited them to come to USC as soon as I heard them play.”

     Kerber, coordinator of guitar activities in Southeastern’s Department of Music and Dramatic Arts, said the quartet will perform a program entitled “Guitare Louisiane,” featuring music by Kerber, Spears, and Southeastern composer-in-residence Stephen Suber. The group will also perform Bryan’s arrangements of music by New Orleans native Louis Moreau Gottschalk, a virtuoso pianist of the Romantic era whose music often displays influences of Creole culture.

     Kerber said the Guitar Quartet was formed three years ago as an assignment for a Southeastern Guitar Ensemble concert. Bryan performed with the group as a graduate student and has continued as a member since joining the music faculty. Kerber is the newest member.

     “I’m having a wonderful time playing with these fine musicians,” Kerber said. “Though there is an obvious generation gap on stage, when the listener closes his eyes it can’t be heard.”

     Kerber said while in Los Angeles the quartet will also have the opportunity to perform privately for world renowned virtuoso Pepe Romero of the Romeros Guitar Quartet.

     The quartet embarked on its first tour last fall, performing at Northwestern State University, McNeese State University, and the University of Louisiana-Lafayette.

     Kerber said the trip to USC will be a premier event for the Guitar Quartet and Department of Music and Dramatic Arts, which also plans performances for the Christwood Concert Series in Madisonville on Nov. 4, and a concert at the University of Southern Mississippi on Nov. 5.