J.W. Turner developed his “Meditations” concert series to showcase six frequently overlooked solo cello masterworks by Egon Wellesz, Ernst Krenek and Ernest Bloch.

Since its inception in 2003, the repertoire for “Meditations” has expanded but the guiding principle is the same, Turner said. The music should allow listeners to “explore the contemplative, introspective and devotional moods in which I feel the solo cello is most at home.”

JW TurnerTurner, who is the theory chair of the Mid-Atlantic chapter of the College Music Society and performs in the cello sections of the Winston-Salem and Greensboro symphony orchestras in North Carolina, will perform his most recent “Meditations” program at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 18 in Memorial Chapel at Sweet Briar College. The concert is free and open to the public.

The four pieces on the Sweet Briar program are contemporary, including “Sisyphean Summer,” written in 2006 by Jonathan Green, SBC professor of music and dean of the College. There are non-Western selections, too.

“This is the first year that I’ve addressed music from non-Western cultures,” Turner said. “In particular, the ‘Trăng’ sounds quite foreign. It’s one of the more fun things I’ve done recently because it is so exotic.”

Translated to “Moon,” the 1996 work is by Vietnamese composer Vũ Nhật Tân.

The third piece, “Ugubu,” is South African. Composer Hans Huyssen is a German born and raised in South Africa amid strong European cultural influences. The result is music with European structure, but a “communal” African feel, Turner said.

“Music is something people do [in South Africa],” he said. “[It’s] such a huge part of life there.”

Tilo Medek’s 1976 “Eine Stele für Bernd Alois Zimmermann” also is on the program.

All have the goal of enveloping the listener and creating a meditative space. The solo cello is “supposed to take you somewhere else,” Turner said.

“While the cello possesses an exceptionally wide range and flexible tone, it is limited by its size in a way other instruments, such as the violin, are not. These very restrictions make the cello uniquely suited for suggesting the inexpressible.”

Turner, a native of Washington State, studied with Alan Harris at the Cleveland Institute of Music and J. Kent Williams at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He has gained a small but loyal following for “Meditations.” He presents the recital series in periodic installments on college campuses in North Carolina and Virginia.

For more information, please e-mail jgreen@sbc.edu or call (434) 381-6205.