On Sept. 18, Swarthmore welcomed Philadelphian composer, guitarist, author, and curator Thomas Schuttenhelm to Lang Concert Hall as the first guest in the 2026 Friday at Six concert series. Schuttenhelm featured a collection of guitar works by Neely Bruce, himself, Matthew Kennedy, Eli Wynn, and the music department’s Visiting Assistant Professor Quinn Collins. Notably, the concert also featured the premiere of Professor Collins’ work, “Prelude.”
As Professor Collins introduced the program, Schuttenhelm quietly walked on stage in glasses and all black. He started the program with two of Neely Bruce’s “Selections from The Sacred Guitar,” originally written for classical guitar: “Arkansas” and “Providence” (the latter inspired largely by “The Sacred Harp” and shape note music). Both pieces featured distinct Americana melodies with touches of Baroque style. Schuttenhelm’s take, on a Fender Telecaster guitar, filled the hall with mellow resonance and an almost spiritual intimacy.
After a brief description and some re-tuning, “Discanti,” from a set of Schuttenhelm’s own preludes for guitar, brought the audience into another world. Showcasing the guitar’s range with bell-like harmonics and thought-provoking melodies, Schuttenhelm seemed immersed in the music, unbothered by the immense technical requirements of the piece.
The four-movement “Figures and Metaphors” by community activist and composer Matthew Kennedy followed soon after. Before continuing with the performance, Schuttenhelm told the audience the story of the coming pieces. During the pandemic, Kennedy posted on Facebook promising to compose a piece for anyone who submitted their home city and a flower. The first movement, “Lento rubato,” resulted from Schuttenhelm’s submission: Philadelphia and a rose. At Schuttenhelm’s request, Kennedy composed the next three movements. Aptly titled, “Figures and Metaphors” ebbed and flowed through four evanescent vignettes, nearly too fleeting to grasp.
In a darker mood, Schuttenhelm introduced “Silken Shell” by Eli Wynn, another local Philadelphian composer. Quoting Wynn, he highlighted the piece’s inspiration from “shrill winds, natural decay … and night encroaching on the days.” But Schuttenhelm’s playing on an Ibanez John Scofield guitar produced a warm and jazzy tone that seemed to contradict Wynn’s unsettling description.
Finally, Schuttenhelm performed Professor Collins’ “Prelude” on the Telecaster guitar, accompanied by three looper pedals, engaging in what he called “footwork.” With the pedals, he built up a groovy ostinato (repeated motifs) layer by layer, punctuated by a majestic, superhero-theme-like melody line that seemed to go on forever. The sound shrank unexpectedly in the middle of the piece, only for the same ostinato to emerge from silence again.
After the performance, both Schuttenhelm and Quinn engaged in an audience Q&A with topics ranging from the function of the looper pedals to their original inspiration and discussions throughout the composition process. Notably, both maintained the piece was still an “ongoing collaboration,” with Quinn suggesting that he might create a larger work from “Prelude.”
Schuttenhelm performed “Prelude” again after the discussion, but even with added context, the piece remained somewhat of an enigma. Schuttenhelm and Quinn’s work remind us that there is always more to create and to decipher.
