Spanish guitarist Francesc de Paula Soler accompanies poetry performance

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As the fingers of Maestro Francesc de Paula Soler’s right hand gently swept across his guitar strings, his left hand moved swiftly across the fret board, hitting each note with precision and expression.

Soler, a native of Spain, performed Friday morning in Pearce Hall alongside the poetry of Federico Garcia Lorca, a popular Spanish poet from the early 20th century. The poetry was read in Spanish by students, faculty and Soler, while Soler accompanied with his guitar.

Soler gave a class and performance in the Music Building’s Chamichan Hall on Thursday, displaying his knowledge for music and the guitar.

Professor of Spanish Krzysztof Kulawik said the Spanish department was fortunate to bring Soler to Central Michigan University.

“The poems that were recited today expressed the traditional, rural, small-town setting of Southern Spain, Andalusia,” Kulawik said. “The poetry expresses mostly feelings of love, passion, revenge, murder and usually passionate crimes.”

Kulawik hoped students could enjoy the cultural experience alongside the music of a world-renowned classical guitarist.

“It was a cultural experience with many facets. It had a musical facet, a poetic facet and a linguistic facet which was a great exercise for us here today,” Kulawik said. “This is something very special that we don’t get here every day. We can recite poetry, but we don’t often have such an acclaimed classical guitarist.”

Rochester junior Michael Morrison attended the reading as a cultural event for Spanish class, and was impressed by the guitar playing and poetry.

“The poetry was great and (Garcia Lorca) is a great poet that is still remembered 75 years after his death,” Morrison said. “The fact that Francesc made music to it that was just as good as the poetry was unbelievable.”

South Bend senior Colin Russell was asked to come up with a dramatization for Garcia Lorca’s poetry and perform at the event. Russell, a theater major, has studied abroad in Chile and enjoyed his opportunity to perform in Spanish.

“I enjoyed the poem (Soler) explained about the guitar. A lot of the poetry is a little harder to understand because Garcia Lorca wrote it a long time ago,” Russell said. “I liked the guitar with the poetry a lot.”