"Suite South America is based on a piece written for the Czech guitar virtuoso Vladislav Blaha. He contacted me wanting something for accordion with guitar accompaniment that had a South American flavor. As a composer I have always admired the compositions and performances of Astor Piazzola, so inspired by his legacy and Blaha's request I started to work on this project.
Not so very long after the piece was finished I was invited to perform at the Miami International Guitar Festival and was encouraged by festival director Rene Gonzalez to perform my own compositions. Thinking that Suite South America might be well received in Miami I rearranged the melody line for my long time duo partner flutist Jim Zellers and we premiered the piece on March 16, 2005.
All 3 movements of Suite South America follow an ABA form but with much more complicated slower B sections, even in the fast movements. There are alternate themes slipped in here and there in each movement and eventually the return of each opening theme gives way to a coda that closes the movement."
Rex Willis - August 9, 2005
About the composer
Willis’ original compositions have been described as “haunting and high-energized . . . fun . . .” Sound Board Magazine, “accessible . . . skillful . . . and brilliant” Les Cahieve de la Guitare, France,
and “very powerful”, Classical Guitar.
Rex Willis is a member of the music faculty at Manatee Community College, where he has taught guitar, composition and music theory since 1987. A published composer and professional classical guitarist, he recently wrote the music and lyrics for the new musical, In Ybor City, which premiered at Manatee Community College in January, 2007, with future performances in the planning for the Tampa Bay area. Mr. Willis’ compositions for guitar and orchestra have been performed in cities around the world, including Washington D.C., Dallas, Miami, Prague, London and Tokyo. His CD, Suite Florida and original sheet music is distributed by Clear Note Publications and other scores, including his popular The Floating Ancillary Ants, are published by Tuscany Publications.
Mr. Willis holds bachelors and master’s degrees in music composition from Florida State University. He also has studied with world-renowned guitarists Bruce Holzman, Pepe Romero and Christopher Parkening. While attending FSU, he participated in master classes with legendary composer Aaron Copland.
In addition to teaching at MCC and conducting guitar and composition workshops at other colleges and universities, Mr. Willis created and since 2003 has hosted, Guitar Unplugged, a weekly show on Manatee Educational Television (METV). In 2004, he was a featured lecturer, conductor and teacher at the International Guitar Festival Brno in the Czech Republic and will perform the opening concert of this same festival in 2007 with Solea Musica. In the 2006 Festival, a commissioned work by Mr. Willis received its premiere. Published by Clear Note, Balatta di Brno, was written in homage to Czech folk music of that region. In 2005, Mr. Willis wrote the original music score for The Southernmost Point, a film by MCC colleague Doug Osman, which premiered at the CineWorld Festival in Sarasota and was selected for inclusion in the Sedona Film Festival. Mr. Willis recently completed the score for a new film, currently winning awards at festivals around the world, The Ghosts of Ybor, by Paul and Pete Guzzo, themselves, award-winning independent film makers.
PREVIEW
