Guitar Heroes

Before the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet took stage at UTB-TSC on Saturday night, all talk was about Brownsville's local music scene. Even the musicians that comprise the Grammy-winning quartet spoke of how impressed they were with the audience, many of whom were trained classical guitarists. During the university's four-day guitar festival, professional musicians and local guitarists spent ample time together.

"They're really an amazing group. They're so attentive and so into the music," said Bill Kanengiser, one of the quartet's members.

For music majors at the University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College, the quartet's performance was a lesson in musicianship. Twenty of the department's students, who focus on classical guitar, were able to perform with Kanengiser and his bandmates before they took stage. For Leo Garcia, a senior at UTB-TSC, the experience was transformative.

"They really took me somewhere with the music," Garcia said. "Somewhere beyond the notes."

Afterwards, Garcia was able to sit down with Kanengiser and play an original composition. "Bill found little details in the music that I would never have caught myself," he said.

The festival has linked students like Garcia with professional musicians for seven years, thanks largely to the work of Michael Quantz. The university's guitar instructor, Quantz has guided UTB-TSC's award-winning guitar ensemble from its infancy.

"Why not train these kids in something they already love?" Quantz asked when he started the program. "It's a path to complete fulfillment."

Quantz divided the festival into two parts, a professional performance and a student competition. This year, 23 ensembles came from all around the country to participate. The winners were announced at the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet's intermission, in front of a packed house at the university's SET-B Lecture Hall.

With the week of competition and the instruction complete, the crowd watched the four musicians as they performed recognizable classical songs. Garcia, and the rest of the university's ensemble, watched the musicians' fingers move dexterously from string to string.

"They play so intensely, but their hands are so loose," Garcia said. "When you see something like that right in front of you, there are no words to describe it."