Texans In Tune is a segment of Marfa Public Radio’s Monday classical music program In Tune, featuring live performances with students at the University of Texas Butler School of Music.
In this segment, host Nick Hurt speaks with guitarist Dragos Ilie.
Hurt and Ilie talk about teachers as apostles of the classical guitar and how an injury can become a means to deepen one's understanding and appreciation of music.
For this show, Ilie plays works of Claude Debussy, Wenzel Thomas Matiegka, and Nuccio D'angelo. The conversation and performances were recorded live at Bates Recital Hall on the University of Texas Austin campus.
While healing from an injury, Ilie could only practice guitar for few minutes a day. Regardless, he continued to compete in and win international competitions.
"I could really just let go and focus on the playing because that's all I had," says Ilie of that time. "Those 15 or 20 minutes of performing on stage were the minutes I really had to make music and nothing else really mattered - so it was liberating in a way."