Guitar Duo Among Concert Highlights of the Year at Utah State University

Mike Christiansen, head of the guitar program in the department of music at Utah State University, is selective when bringing guest artists to Logan to perform. He doesn’t bring many guest artists to campus to perform, but when he does, audiences can count on the best.

This year Christiansen continues the tradition with an appearance by the guitar duo Sergio and Odair Assad.

 

“This should be one of the finest guitar concerts to happen in Logan,” Christiansen said.

 

The Assad brothers perform March 29 at the Manon Caine Russell Kathryn Caine Wanlass Performance Hall. Concert time is 7:30 p.m. Admission is $15, and USU students with valid ID are admitted free. The concert is sponsored by the Marie Eccles Caine Foundation.

 

Advance reservations can be made by calling Christiansen’s office, (435) 797-3011. Leave a name and the number of tickets requested on the voicemail. Tickets can be picked up at the Performance Hall 30-minutes prior to the concert.

 

“This concert is sure to sell out,” Christiansen said. “Please arrive early to pick up reserved tickets. All reserved tickets not picked up 15-minutes prior to concert time will be released for general sale.”

 

Promotional materials call Brazilian-born brothers today’s preeminent guitar due. Christiansen concurs and critics from across the country agree. The duo’s artistry and uncanny ensemble playing result from the closeness of their musical upbringing.

 

“Listening to the Assad brothers is a bit like hearing four hands playing one large guitar,” a Los Angeles Times review said. “The interaction of the Brazilian siblings is so precise, so perfectly synchronized, that it reaches far beyond musical partnership into a kind of creative symbiosis.”

 

From the Seattle Post-Intelligencer: “Throughout the concert, the brothers played as one. …This was two persons, four hands, one mind.”

 

The Boston Globe said, “They are extraordinary players in an extraordinary ensemble. They play as well as their best-selling records suggest: they don’t need studio doctoring, and they can actually do all those things you hear on their CDs.”

 

The Assads began playing the guitar together at an early age and went on to study for seven years with classical guitarist and lutenist Monia Tavora, a disciple of Andres Segovia. Their international career began with a major prize at the 1979 young artists completion in Bratislava. Now based in Brussels and in Chicago — where Sergio teaches at Roosevelt University’s Chicago College of Performing Arts — they continue to perform regularly in Europe and Japan, as well as in Brazil.

 

Their repertoire, in addition to the pieces composed for them, includes original music by Sergio; transcriptions of the great Baroque keyboard literature of Bach, Couperin, Rameau and Scarlatti; and adaptations of works by such diverse figures as Gershwin, Ginastera and Milhaud. Their programs include a blend of styles, periods and cultures.

 

The Assad’s have recorded widely, primarily for the Nonesuch and GHA labels. They have recorded and performed live with cellist Yo-Yo Ma, including a recent recording by Ma, Obrigado Brazil, a CD that features many of the most revered artists from Brazil. Sergio arranged several works on the disc, which captured a Grammy in 2004.

 

During this, the 05-06 season, the brothers will tour with acclaimed clarinetist Paquito D’Rivera, and again with violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg (the duo collaborated with her on a collection of pieces based on traditional and Gypsy folk tunes from around the world). A tour with two members of the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet will soon be announced.