Editor’s note: The correspondent has worked with David Pelham for many years, first as guitar teacher and then helping him with his compositions for the guitar, and has been to Paracho, Mexico, with him.

At 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 13, Idyllwild’s “Art of the Guitar” concert series will resume. This year’s concert will feature Alberto Daniel Quintanilla (Mexico) and Aysegul Koca (Turkey.) The concert is in Idyllwild Arts Academy’s Lowman Concert Hall and is free to the public.

The concert series is the brainchild of David Pelham, whose love of the guitar and the community has shaped his busy retirement years. Pelham has become a part of the international classical guitar scene through his trips to Paracho, Michoacan, Mexico, to attend the annual Guitar Festival there and to meet the many accomplished and respected luthiers who are residents of that city.

If you or a friend has a guitar from Mexico, whether it cost thousands of dollars or a few, it most likely bears a label inside that reads “Paracho.” Factories there turn out (often very serviceable) souvenirs, and fine craftsmen practicing an art handed down through generations.

Although funding is often uncertain, a museum there is dedicated to guitar building, workshops in which visiting luthiers share their techniques to improve the state of the art and a festival that invites both builders and players to compete for honor and prizes. The guitars entered are displayed in a church where they can be tested by interested visitors, and the competition rounds are open to the public.

The Crier interviewed Pelham through phone and email about the genesis of the “Art of the Guitar” series and its mission.

TC: “How did the trips to Paracho begin? Were you going to hear concerts or talk to builders?”

DP had a vague knowledge that there was a festival. “I primarily went because I wanted to meet some of the guitar builders. We (my wife Barb was with me) happened to arrive right on schedule for the festival by accident.”

TC: “What inspired you to begin this project?”

DP: “Mexico has a massive classical guitar culture, with many conservatories and universities with top-level classical guitar programs. Many young guitarists that emerge from this system, with the addition of many competitions and master classes, are world-class, and deserve the attention and focus of the classical guitar world. I am happy to help with that. I began going to Paracho for the guitar festival in 2002. I have been back almost every year since. I met so many great musicians (and great people), as well as seeing a parallel with Idyllwild: Little towns in the mountains with amazing people and so many incredible musicians. Paracho is at 7,300 feet and surrounded by extinct volcanic hills. There are hundreds of guitar builders there, many world-class, and many guitarists who are Paracho natives, as well as many others who make a pilgrimage to Paracho, Capital Mundial de la Guitarra, as it has become known.”

TC: “How many times have you brought these players to Idyllwild?”

DP: “I brought Mariana Gomez and Juan Sixtos here to perform in 2017; Abel Garcia and Jaime Soria here in 2018; and Pamela Arellano and Jesus Serrano here in 2019.”

TC: “How have you chosen players for the series?”

DP: “Most of these great young guitarists I have known from childhood or at least their teenage years, and I have watched them mature from prodigious beginnings to become the mature musicians they are today. Examples would include Mariana Gomez, Juan Sixtos, Abel Garcia, Jesus Serrano, as well as this year’s performer, Alberto Quintanilla. I know many of their families, and have grown close to them over the years. And there are no shortage of more great candidates. It has been such a rewarding experience …

“Aysegul Koca is a different case. She was certainly a prodigy and had amazing early achievements. But when I met her in Paracho she was already a visiting professor in Mexico and an invited performer at Paracho. Her Turkish and Middle Eastern background informed her unique performance of several of her pieces. I was impressed.”

TC: “What about bringing the players here; what kind of challenges have you encountered?”

DP: “The process of bringing these folk here has not been smooth. In 2017, there were no visa issues, but in 2018, one chosen guitarist, Pamella Arellano, was arbitrarily denied a visa, and had to be replaced with another, the excellent Abel Garcia, who already had a U.S. visa. In 2019, she applied again and was approved so she was able to come, and her whole family came along. Then came the pandemic, and two years of no concerts. Then in 2022, I invited two wonderful guitarists and both were denied U.S. visas without the consulate clerks even looking at their documentation. I quickly found another who had a visa, was excited to come, but he then won an important competition in Spain, and part of his award was a sponsored 20-concert world tour, so then he could not come to Idyllwild.

“My 2022 trip to Paracho focused on finding a great guitarist that had a U.S. visa, and a tip that Alberto Quintanilla had a visa paid off. About then, I had a contact from another great guitarist whom I met when she played a wonderful concert in Paracho. Aysegul Koca would be coming to New York, and would be able to add a trip to California. I had invited her early in 2018 but she was not able to come at that time. I jumped at the opportunity!.”

TC: “How many guitars have you built so far?”

DP: “I have made 18 instruments including three ukuleles and one U-bass, along with my 14 classical guitars. I have sold most of them, but have saved a couple for myself, and still have a couple of them for sale.”

TC: “And about your compositions. You have put together a book of pieces that have circulated among the guitar community internationally?”

DP: “My pieces have been performed in several different cities in Mexico, here in Idyllwild and in Hemet, in Barcelona, Spain. In my early years, when I was practicing regularly, I thought I was going to be a good guitarist. I didn’t pick up on the fact that in the group I was in I was the worst in terms of speed and accuracy. But I was already composing. I still value my first few compositions; they may appear yet …”

TC: “People can find videos of your music?”

DP: “YouTube and Spotify; Mariana Gomez playing ‘Hymn for the Earth’ and ‘Ashes and Tears’ by several different people, Jaime Soria and Edgar Camargo.”

Although reticent to talk about funding, the series has been funded by Pelham himself. When a crash ended his aviation hobby, he rolled the insurance money into starting the concert series. No donations can be solicited at the Idyllwild ARts concert venue, but there is talk about a reception afterward and what might be needed to guarantee the continuation of this tradition.