Assad Farewell Tour Comes to Herbst Theatre

Sérgio Assad performing in Brazil in 2012 (photograph by Leonardo Beraido, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license)

Last night Herbst Theatre hosted the latest program of classical guitar duos performed by Brazilian brothers Sérgio and Odair Assad. This was also the latest offering in the Dynamite Guitars concert season, presented by the Omni Foundation for the Performing Arts. I first encountered Sérgio when he was teaching at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Listening to both him and David Tanenbaum led to my interest in attending as many guitar recitals as my schedule would allow.

Three of the works on the program were composed by Sérgio. The first half of the evening concluded with One Week in Rio, a suite in seven (of course) movements beginning with Monday. In the second half there was a shorter three-movement suite entitled Dyens en trois temps. This was composed for classical guitarist Roland Dyens, who died in 2016. His name appears in each of the movements:

1. Roland au nord
2. La chanson et Roland
3. Roland au sud

Those familiar with very early literature will recognize the second movement as a nod to the Song of Roland, an eleventh-century French epic, which may be the oldest surviving work of French literature. One may describe the suite as a journey from north to south with an epic battle between the extremes. Assad concluded the program with “Tahhiyya li ossoulina,” an homage to his family life, which began in Lebanon and moved to Brazil by way of Portugal.

The program also included two of Assad’s contemporaries, Paulo Bellinati and Egberto Gismonti. The remainder of the program offered twentieth-century composers, the most familiar being Heitor Villa-Lobos and Astor Piazzolla. Each of them began the second and first halves of the program, respectively. The remaining two composers on the program were less familiar to me: Américo Jacomino and Radamés Gnattali. The encore wrapped up the evening with both of the brothers playing on a single instrument.

This program was prepared for the Assad’s North American farewell tour. It marks the conclusion of a 60-year career. I appreciate every opportunity I have had to listen to them, and it is hard to avoid disappointment that this was my final encounter.