Theron S. Welch

Theron’s foundation for the various violin concerto recordings was inauspicious but typical.  In high school, he began in typical fashion by emulating the styles of of various rock guitarists and playing in high school bands.  The same pattern continued in college, but he was fortunate enough to take advantage of guitar lessons with Tim Hayden in Spartanburg, South Carolina, who corrected several bad habits.  However, it was a inspiring concert of the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto with Robert McDuffie as soloist and Yehudi Menuin as conductor that was the genesis of his style.  Theron became determined to learn the violin, even willing to sacrifice the carefree life of the typical college student.  Reality set in after a few years of study when Theron sadly realized that he would never be able to play at the virtuoso level.  Later, an idea germinated:  Why not combine the guitar and violin music together?  Why not try to play these masterpieces on the guitar?  Theron began with the Tchaikovsky D Major concerto, one of the more difficult pieces to being with.  After a couple of years of dabbling, he finally recorded the piece in 2000.  Theron followed up with the Bruch g minor in 2001 and the Glazunov a minor in 2003. All three are world-premiere recordings. Theron also transcribed numerous other works, both large and small scale, and went on to found the site, www.shredtheclassics.com. He has also studied music at the Royal College of Music in London, Converse College in Spartanburg, South Carolina, Columbus State University in Columbus, Georiga, and the Southeastern Summer Music School in Columbus, Georgia.

In addition to transcribing the great works for the violin, Theron is also an avid songwriter having penned over two hundred original songs and instrumentals. He is also a current collaborator with Davide Succi, one of Southeast Asia’s most popular DJ’s.  The two work together on arrangements for DJ and guitar, often using classically influenced material.

Theron currently resides in Shenzhen, China.

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