It's not every day area residents can pop into their local library for a recital by a musician who regularly performs at Carnegie Hall.

But this winter, as New York-based classical guitarist Peter Fletcher set out on a nationwide tour, two Volusia County libraries played host to his free performances. His final local recital will be Friday at the Flagler County Public Library.

While there's a difference between performing on New York City's most hallowed stage and performing in a library auditorium decorated for children's programs, Fletcher, a graduate of the Eastman School of Music, said he approaches every recital with the same commitment.

"This is just as important as a Carnegie Hall concert," he said before playing earlier this month at the Ormond Beach Regional Library.

"There's a lot of reasons for that. It's just a nice feeling to do a good job. Also, you know, you want to think when you do play at a large hall you want to look back and say, 'The last five or six months, I gave good recitals at smaller places.' Psychologically, it's good ... But the main reason is just to do a good job an audience is an audience," he said.

At his Ormond Beach performance, Fletcher's audience easily numbered 100; there were also more than 100 people at his Jan. 30 recital at the Port Orange Regional Library. Since he's played annually at area libraries for several years now, he has quite a local following, according to Friends of the Ormond Beach Library vice president Carol Johnson.

"I re-booked him because of popular demand. I had one person who had to have asked me 100 times if he was coming back! He was very well received the last time and we were thrilled to get him, to be able to schedule him this time," she said.

And like that performance, he earned a standing ovation after a program that took the audience on a tour of European composers, from Spain to England, and Germany to Russia. Some of Fletcher's selections, such as two pieces by Heitor Villa-Lobos, are standards in classical guitar repertoires. Others, including Maurice Ravel's "Pavane of the Sleeping Beauty," had originally been composed for other instruments, but Fletcher transcribed them for guitar.

"I want 20 or 30 percent of it to be music that no classical guitarists are playing at all, just to make me unique, but the 80 percent is what everybody knows, just to keep it accessible," said Fletcher, who lives in New York City.

Too many familiar pieces makes a recital boring for the audience, he explained, but too much new music will make the audience lose interest. In selecting his program, Fletcher said his job is to strike a good balance and to make sure he chooses pieces he will enjoy playing day after day, concert after concert.

His closing selection, "Koyunbaba" by the Italian composer Carlo Domeniconi, has been a mainstay in Fletcher's concerts since 1998.

"I've done this hundreds and hundreds of times, but the vicarious thrill of the audience enjoying it is really exciting," he said. "It's very high-energy, unique, the ultimate tour de force. It just engages the audience. I've never had a piece engage an audience like this."

Engaging the audience is something Fletcher certainly does well. After his Ormond Beach recital, attendees described him as "the best guitarist I've ever heard" and his performance as "incredible."

As she filed out of the auditorium with other patrons, Bev Schlecht of Ormond Beach paused to congratulate Fletcher on another excellent performance.

"We've heard Peter Fletcher before I think this is the third time. We have his CD at home and he's even better today than before. It was really great," she said.

That's the type of reaction Johnson hopes for when she plans the Friends of the Ormond Beach Library's events.

"I love being able to bring things to people that they wouldn't ordinarily run into or be exposed to. I think it's part of a library's job to do that," she said.