In this month’s Classical Guitar Corner Academy Member Spotlight we’re featuring member Rick Lord. Rick has been a member at CGC Academy for almost exactly a year! Rick is an exceptionally gifted player and his YouTube page has examples of many performances, all of which are high quality. The below video is a performance of “Capricho Árabe” by Francisco Tárrega and it shows a great deal of progress and polish on the piece from where Rick first started with it.

Toward the end of next month Rick will be giving a public recital, fulfilling one of his goals from his progress journal at CGCA. Offer your congratulations to Rick in the comments below!

“Capricho Árabe” was composed by Francisco Tárrega in 1892 after a visit to Granada (which is of course home to the Arab palace and fortress “La Alhambra”). The title bears the dedication to his friend Tomás Bretón, also a Spanish composer and conductor. Capricho (along with Tárrega’s other “Alhambrismo” pieces, Danza Mora and Recuerdos de la Alhambra) is a wonderful example of the deep Arabic influences common to Spain’s nationalistic music, but also of the romanticism of late-nineteenth-century music in general.