Transcendental Beauty
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Transcendental Beauty *
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Peter Fletcher
Peter Fletcher began guitar study at the age of seven. In 1980 maestro José Tomás, Andrés Segovia’s teaching assistant in Spain, held a weeklong Master Class in Atlanta, GA. Peter Fletcher was the youngest student to perform in the class, playing music by Bach and Carcassi. In December 1983, he made his formal debut under the auspices of The Brasstown Concert Association in North Carolina. Wrote the critic of The Cherokee Scout, “He has technical facility but what one remembers about his playing is the nuances, the poetical phrasing, dynamic and tonal changes, his harmonics, his cadences.” Fletcher furthered his studies in Master Classes with David Leisner, David Russell, Oscar Ghiglia and Pepe Romero. As a performer in the Christopher Parkening Master Class in 1988, he was broadcast on National Public Radio (NPR). In 1990, the Music Teacher’s National Association (MTNA) awarded Fletcher a prize at its National Level Competition, and in 1995 he received the Master of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music under Nicholas Goluses and was twice the recipient of an Eastman Graduate Award. In demand as a performer in cultural venues throughout the country, Mr. Fletcher has been invited to give recitals at the George Eastman House in Rochester, NY; Cincinnati’s Memorial Hall; St. Philip Cathedral in Atlanta; Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina, and many others. In 2003 he performed on the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series at the Chicago Cultural Center. In January 2005, Mr. Fletcher was invited to join the distinguished Jury of the 9th Annual Schadt String Competition in Allentown, Pennsylvania. He made his New York Debut at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in February 2007, and returned in 2008, 2009 and 2010 to a completely sold-out house. Highlights of Fletcher’s past concert seasons have included appearances at Peter also broke new ground in El Paso, TX when he became the first ever classical guitarist to perform an entire solo recital as part of the Bruce Nehring Consort, an accomplishment which led to a feature article in the El Paso Times. More engagements included an appearance in Naples, FL as part of the Music at Trinity-by-the-Cove concert series, and a feature recital for the inaugural season of the Firehouse Arts Center in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2013 Fletcher performed once again at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York City. The program featured the Suite Compostelana by Catalan composer Federico Mompou in celebration of his 120th birthday. In addition, Peter performed the world premiere of Diary of a Camino by American composer Jeremy Gill. Peter’s last recital at Carnegie Hall took place on May 6, 2017, with rave reviews, and he made his solo recital debut in Detroit on May 6th, 2018, on the Cathedral Cultural Series at Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament. Fletcher’s many radio and television appearances have included Storyline on Fox-affiliate WAGA-TV’s “Good Day Atlanta”; KCSC in Oklahoma City; Long Island’s Public Radio WLIU 88.3 FM and NPR-affiliated Classical 94.5 WNED in Buffalo/Toronto. In 2019 he was interviewed on City Lights at WABE in Atlanta . Current recordings involve an all-Grieg album, for which he himself wrote the guitar transcriptions, released in 2014 on Centaur Records, and a self-released Christmas Album in 2015. His current CD features live performances of Bach’s First Lute Suite, Ravel’s Empress of the Pagodas, Leyenda and Sevilla by Albeniz, and music by Tansman, Reusner, Couperin, Visée, Satie and Carlo Domeniconi. On September 6th 2023 he performed at St. Mary's Theater and Grand Opera house in St. Mary's, OH. Last March he was the featured guest in a week-long artist in residency under the auspices of the Marshall County Arts Cooperative, a presenting arts organization based out of Marysville, KS. On November 9th of this year he performed a solo recital at The Silco Theater , an art deco gem in the heart of historic Silver City, New Mexico. On December 15th 2024 he performed a solo holiday program at the Adams Vines Recital Hall on the campus of Arkansas Northeastern College, in Blytheville, AR, and in December 2024 he performed the same program at Saint Mark’s Cathedral in New York City. Peter divides his time between Detroit, where he recently purchased a vintage home in the historic North Rosedale Park neighborhood, and New York City.