Senior Daniel Volovets, an experienced guitarist, composer and arranger, is working on his fourth album, “Rainy Highway,” expected to be released this year.

“I’m excited to share it; it’s been a couple years in the making,” Volovets said.

Volovets dedicates his time to studying neuroscience during the school year, but he said he locks himself away and focuses on music during breaks from school. Volovets said he believes that the art of the guitar and the science of medicine balance each other out.

“Initially, I thought I was going to be a guitar performance major. Then I realized that I couldn’t just devote myself to be fully right brained,” Volovets said. “(The sciences) kind of engaged the left brain part of me too.”

Volovets performs regularly in the Twin Cities at events organized by the Minnesota Guitar Society and the St. Paul Public Library. He has released three albums so far: “Watercolors of the World” (2008), “Silhouette” (2009) and “Rite of Passage” (2011).

At 7 years old, Volovets picked up the guitar and started strumming his first chords. His parents introduced him to Spanish, Brazilian, Russian, Italian, French and other styles of music. Volovets said music is a family affair, and that every member plays at least one instrument.

“I think having being exposed to (different kinds of music) from a young age kind of predisposed me to music in general,” Volovets said.

His brother, Adrian, and his mother have been featured on his albums.

In addition to recording and performing, Volovets also teaches classical, flamenco, Brazilian and jazz guitar lessons to 10 students, ranging from 7 to 47 years old. Volovets said he finds enjoyment in teaching.

“Even if they are absolute beginners, you learn as well,” Volovets said. “Just seeing someone progress from no knowledge whatsoever to actually being proficient is the most gratifying thing.”

Eric Wuebben can be reached at wueb2091@stthomas.edu.