Marcin made his third appearance in Oberlin this week. His first was at the 2005 GFA Convention that I hosted here. He was a finalist that year (he won the first prize a couple years later). He came back for a visit a few years after that and now, finally, he’s come back again to share his remarkable artistry with us.

He played a lengthy solo program with a perfect balance of familiar and less-well-known works. For myself, his interpretation of a seldom-heard work by Guastavino was a high point, along with a commanding rendering of the great Ponce Folia Variations. His intense musical commitment was evident in every phrase. His playing was poetic and riveting, demonstrating a marvelous dynamic and color range seldom heard on the guitar. Everyone was thrilled. The full program is reproduced at the end of the post.

The next day, he taught most of my students in a master class. Details follow.

Here are some images from the concert.

During the master class, Dylla offered the students numerous ideas for how to more completely convey musical ideas and authentic feeling in their playing. It was a terrific class. To start things off, Caeli Massey played the Domeniconi Variations on a Turkish Theme: