The world is full of exciting young players and composers, and we like to shine the spotlight on them in this weekly feature from time to time, too! Case in point, Croatian guitarist/composer Petar Čulić. The 30-year-old, who earned his master’s degree in 2008 at the Arts Academy of the University of Split (on the Adriatic coast of Croatia) has enjoyed an international career for many years, playing around Europe and, in the past year alone, Brazil and Australia. He has won numerous solo guitar and also chamber music competitions and also played with orchestras. His repertoire covers a broad range of styles and eras: Bach, Vivaldi, Giuliani, Sor, Torroba, Rodrigo, Ponce, Barrios, Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Brouwer, Domeniconi, Walton—all the big names, plus many less-known composers, including a number of Croatians.
The piece featured in this video, which was shot by long-time Classical Guitar contributing editor Guy Traviss, is one of Čulić’s own works: M (the meaning of the title deliberately obscure, the composer says). It first appeared on his 2005 mixed-recital CD called Gitara, but was re-recorded for his most recent disc, 12 Original Pieces (released in fall 2014) which, as the title implies, consists entirely of his own works. Čulić is a master of melody and also excels at evoking different moods (sometimes within a single piece). He draws from many of the composers listed above in both obvious and subtle ways, yet he has also carved out an appealing individual style. The album is available digitally from Amazon, iTunes, and various other outlets listed here on this page of his website.
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