I first met Raphaella Smits, the celebrated Belgian guitarist, at a guitar festival in Boston in the late 1980’s, and was immediately taken with her, both as a person and as a musician. She plays with an exquisitely expressive, musical sensibility and a gorgeous and refined sound. We’ve crossed paths numerous times since then. She’s been my guest several times, both at The University of Akron and at Oberlin where, along with other visits, she was a feature artist at the 2005 GFA Convention I directed here.

It was a delight to have her back. She was playing her beautiful John Gilbert 8-string, in the service of a Baroque-heavy program that featured several original arrangements by composers we seldom see on guitar programs. She taught an informative and nurturing master class and was happy to mix with the students and other guests after the concert at the Feve, our usual after-concert hang. It was wonderful to see her and catch up on our lives, and to be drawn again into her uniquely evocative musical world.

Here are some images from her visit. The full recital program is reproduced at the end of the post.

In the master class, Aidan Wiley Lippke played the Reverie Nocturne of Giulio Regondi:

Craig Slagh played a Fantasie of John Dowland:

Suvan Agarwal played the first Etude of Regondi:

Finally, Caeli Massey played the first movement of El Decameron Negro of Leo Brouwer: