♪ MUSIC ♪ >>FROM THE SECOND FLOOR OF THE ORLANDO PUBLIC LIBRARY, WELCOME TO MELROSE IN THE MIX, OUR SERIES OF LIVE RECORDING SESSIONS HERE IN THE AUDIO STUDIO AT THE MELROSE CENTER.

HI, EVERYONE, I'M JIM MYERS.

TODAY'S SESSION FEATURES GUITARIST CHRISTOPHER BELT.

CHRISTOPHER HAS APPEARED AT A COUPLE MELROSE IN THE MIX SESSION IN YEARS PAST PERFORMING IN DUOS SETTINGS, BUT IN THIS SESSION THAT WE HOSTED NOT LONG BEFORE THE PANDEMIC, HE APPEARS SOLO.

WE HAD A CHANCE TO SIT DOWN WITH CHRISTOPHER BEFORE HAND TO TALK ABOUT HIS INTRODUCTION TO MUSIC AND HOW HE BECAME ENGROSSED IN THE SERIOUS STUDY OF CLASSICAL GUITAR.

THE UNIQUE CHALLENGE OF PERFORMING IN A STUDIO IN FRONT OF AN AUDIENCE, HIS WORK AS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AT TIMICUA ARTS FOUNDATION, AND MORE.

>>I'M REALLY HAPPY TO BE BACK, THE FIRST PERSON TO PLAY AT THE MELROSE IN MIX SERIES FOR THREE TIMES.

THE PREVIOUS...THE FIRST TIME THAT I PLAYED HERE WAS WITH MY DUO "BELT AND RAMIREZ" WHICH MY WIFE IS AN OBOIST AND WE PERFORMED MUSIC FOR OBOE AND CLASSICAL GUITAR.

SO WE JUST RELEASED OUR FIRST, IT'S AN EP, IT'S ABOUT 20 MINUTES LONG.

IT'S PIAZZOLLA'S HISTORY OF TANGO.

SO, WE JUST RELEASED THAT AND THE SECOND TIME THAT I PLAYED HERE WAS WITH SOME GUITARISTS WHO ARE DEAR FRIENDS OF MINE, CLASSICAL GUITARISTS, BUT THIS WILL BE THE FIRST TIME THAT I HAVE PLAYED SOLO IN THIS SERIES, AND I'M REALLY EXCITED ABOUT IT.

I DONT DO SOLO CONCERTS SUPER OFTEN, I PERFORM IN DUOS AND CHAMBER SETTINGS... >>THIS ONE IS AN HOMAGE WRITTEN TO THE COMPOSER CLAUDE DEBUSSY UPON HIS DEATH.

SO IT IS THE HOMENAJE POUR LE TOMBEAU DE DEBUSSY BY THE COMPOSER MANUEL DE FALLA, A GREAT SPANISH COMPOSER.

THE PIECES WERE ORIGINALLY WRITTEN FOR PIANO, AND THEN HE ARRANGED IT HIMSELF FOR GUITAR.

IN ONLY 3 MINUTES, ITS AN AESTHETIC MASTERWORK.

THERE'S A LOT HAPPENING AND IT'S REALLY AN ESSENTIAL PIECE FOR THE CLASSICAL GUITAR REPITOIR, A PIECE THAT YOU NEED TO PLAY.

♪ GUITAR PLAYING ♪ ♪ GUITAR CONTINUES ♪ ♪ GUITAR ENDS ♪ >>I STARTED PLAYING GUITAR WHEN I WAS 12 YEARS OLD.

JUST PLAYING IN A BAND WITH MY FRIENDS.

ALL MY FRIENDS PLAYED AN INSTRUMENT, AND WE WOULD HANG OUT ON THE WEEKENDS.

WHEN THEY FINALLY STARTED HAVING REHEARSALS WHERE THEY ACTUALLY LEARNED SONGS, I HAD TO BEG MY MOM TO BUY ME AN INSTRUMENT.

WE ALREADY HAD A GUITAR PLAYING AND A DRUMMER SO I STARTED ACTUALLY PLAYING BASS BACK THEN.

THEN I JUST PLAYED IN BANDS ALL THROUGH MIDDLE SCHOOL AND HIGH SCHOOL.

IT WAS IN COLLEGE THAT I STARTED STUDYING CLASSICAL GUITAR, WHICH I THINK WAS KINDA COMMON FOR PEOPLE IN MY GENERATION IN THE US, THAT THEY DON'T START STUDYING CLASSICAL MUSIC UNTIL LATER IF THEY'RE GUITAR PLAYERS.

I ACTUALLY WANTED TO STUDY JAZZ, AND THERE WAS NO JAZZ GUITAR PROGRAM AT UCF AT THAT TIME.

I WENT TO UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA FOR MY UNDERGRAD, AND MY ONLY OPTION WAS TO START STUDYING CLASSICAL GUITAR.

I DIDNT HAVE A LOT OF EXPOSURE TO IT AT THE TIME.

I'D HEARD A COUPLE OF CLASSICAL GUITAR ALBUMS FROM MY DAYS OF RAIDING THRIFT STORE LP BINS AND SO I'D HEARD OF THE GUITARIST JOHN WILLIAMS, I HAD THE BACH LUTE SUITE IN E MAJOR ALBUM, AND SO I KNEW THAT.

I'M LIKE "THAT WAS PRETTY COOL, SO I GUESS I COULD STUDY THIS."

AND IT WAS REALLY BECAUSE I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT I DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT THE INSTRUMENT, I JUST SORT OF HIT A WALL TRYING TO LEARN SONGS BY MY FAVORITE ARTISTS.

I'M LIKE 'THIS ONE'S TOO HARD AND I DON'T KNOW WHY SO I BETTER START STUDYING."

THAT DREW ME TO A PURSUIT OF SERIOUS STUDY OF MUSIC AND GETTING MY MUSIC DEGREE OVER AT UCF.

I'LL ALSO DO RECUERDOS DE LA ALHAMBRA BY FRANSCISCO TARREGA WHICH IS A TREMOLO STUDY THAT PROBBALY EVERYONE HAS HEARD ON A CLASSICAL GUITAR GREATEST HITS OR WALKING THROUGH AN AIRPORT.

IT'S JUST THE MOST BEAUTIFUL AND EVOCATIVE PIECE FOR THE INSTRUMENT BY THE 19TH CENTURY COMPOSER FRANCISCO TÁRREGA.

♪ GUITAR PLAYING ♪ ♪ GUITAR CONTINUES ♪ ♪ GUITAR ENDS ♪ >>MUSIC IS REALLY THE GUIDING LIGHT IN MY LIFE.

IT IS THE NORTH STAR FOR ME AND WHENEVER I START TO VEER OFF COURSE, IT'S BECAUSE OR SOMEHOW RELATED TO NOT PLAYING ENOGUH MUSIC.

AND SO I'VE JUST BEEN REALLY BLESSED TO HAVE THAT THROUGH LINE.

EVERYWHERE THAT I'VE MOVED OR EVERYWHERE THAT I'VE TRAVELED, THERE'S SOME PERFORMANCE THERE LIKE WHETHER IT WAS STUDY ABROAD; WHEN I WAS IN COLLEGE I GOT TO STUDY MUSIC IN FRANCE, A GROUP OF GUITARISTS JUST GOING UP TO THE TOP OF THIS MOUNTAIN AND PLAYING PIECES FOR EACH OTHER, AN AUDIENCE OF JUST GUITAR PLAYERS, WITH THIS BEAUTIFUL MONT BLANC IN THE BACKGROUND.

OR WHEN I MOVED TO NEW YORK WITH MY WIFE AND THE OPPORTUNITES WE HAD TO PERFORM THERE, AND JUST PLAYING MUSIC TOGETHER WITH ALL OF MY FRIENDS AND LOVED ONES.

THAT'S THE THING THAT HAS KEPT ME GOING.

♪ GUITAR PLAYING ♪ ♪ GUITAR CONTINUES ♪ >>SUITE IN D MINOR BY ROBERT DE VISEE, HE WAS A PERSONAL MUSICIAN, BASICALLY PROPERTY THAT CAN PLAY THE GUITAR, OF LOUIS XIV.

IT ALWAYS STRIKES ME AS SO ODD THAT THAT'S BASICALLY HOW CLASSICAL MUSIC CAME INTO EXISTENCE, AS SERVANTS DOING THE BIDDING OF PEOPLE WHO WEILDED ABSOLUTE POWER.

IT'S JUST BAFFLING.

LOUIS XIV OF COURSE WAS AN AVID BALLET FROM THE TIME THAT HE WAS AN ADOLESCENT AND HE BASICALLY IN ADDITION TO RULING FRANCE AND BUILDING VERSAILLES, HAD THE EQUIVALENT OF A PROFESSIONAL STAR BALLET CAREER, BY LIKE THE NUMBER OF LEAD ROLES THAT HE DANCED.

SO THIS IS A DANCE SUITE WRITTEN FOR HIM.

BASICALLY, IT'S IN SEVERAL MOVEMENTS THAT EVOKE DIFFERENT POPULAR DANCES OF THE TIME.

♪ GUITAR CONTINUES ♪ ♪ GUITAR ENDS ♪ >>THE OLDER THAT I GET, THE MORE I APPRECIATE HOW IMPORTANT MUSIC IS, WHETHER IT'S BY A FAMOUS PERSON WHO HAS ACCESS TO AN AUDIENCE OF BILLIONS OF PEOPLE OR WHETHER IT'S COMMUNITY MUSIC MAKING, CHORAL SINGING IN A CHURCH OR A PERSON PLAYING A CLASSICAL GUITAR RECITAL FOR 30 PEOPLE AT A LIBRARY.

I THINK JUST THE ACT OF MUSIC MAKING IS SO IMPORTANT BECAUSE IT CONNECTS US TO EACH OTHER AND IT CONNECTS US TO A LANGUAGE OF EMOTION AND MEMORY AND HUMAN CHARACTER.

THE EXPERIENCE OF BEING ALIVE THROUGHOUT ALL OF TIME.

IT'S VERY ANTHROPOLOGICAL WHEN YOU PERFORM MUSIC OF COMPOSERS WHO BEEN PASSED FOR HUNDREDS OF YEARS, OR WHEN YOU WORK WITH A COMPOSER TO CREATE A NEW PIECE THAT NO ONE HAS HEARD BEFORE.

IT'S ALL ABOUT EXPRESSION AND CONNECTING WITH PEOPLE AND I THINK THAT THAT'S REALLY IMPORTANT.

WE WORKED WITH A FIRST MOVEMENT OF THE SONATA MEXICANA BY MANUEL PONCE.

IT'S A PIECE THAT I'VE PLAYED FOR MANY YEARS, BUT I'VE TAKEN A BREAK FROM IT FOR A WHILE, SO I WAS EXCITED TO RELEARN IT AFTER SOME TIME OFF.

IT'S JUST A BEAUTIFUL LIGHT PIECE, ONE OF THE FIRST PIECES PONCE WROTE FOR THE GUITAR.

NOW, HE'S THE MOST IMPORTANT COMPOSER FOR THE CLASSICAL GUITAR THROUGH THE FIRST HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY, I WOULD SAY.

♪ GUITAR PLAYING ♪ ♪ GUITAR CONTINUES ♪ ♪ GUITAR ENDS ♪ >>THANKS FOR JOINING US FOR THIS EPISODE OF MELROSE IN THE MIX FEATURING CHRISTOPHER BELT, WE'LL SEE YOU AGAIN SOON WITH ANOTHER LIVE RECORDING SESSION HERE IN THE MELROSE CENTER AT THE ORLANDO PUBLIC LIBRARY.

♪ APPLAUSE ♪