Sérgio Assad
Sérgio Assad is a Brazilian guitarist, composer, and arranger who often performs with his brother, Odair, in the guitar duo Sérgio and Odair Assad, commonly referred to as the Assad Brothers or Duo Assad. Their younger sister Badi is also a guitarist. Assad is the father of composer/singer/pianist Clarice Assad. He is married to Angela Olinto.
Biography
Born into a musical family in Mococa, São Paulo, Brazil, Assad began creating music for the guitar not long after he began playing the instrument. He learned Brazilian folk melodies from his father. By age 14, he was arranging and writing original compositions for the guitar duo he had formed with his brother, Odair. At the age of 17, he and Odair began their studies under the best known classical guitar teacher in Brazil at the time, Monina Tavora, a former disciple of Andrés Segovia. Sergio later went on to study conducting and composition at the Escola Nacional de Música in Rio de Janeiro, and worked privately with Brazilian composition teacher, Esther Scliar. He is the spouse of the physicist Angela Olinto.Arrangements
Over the last twenty years Assad has concentrated most of his efforts on building a repertoire for the guitar duo. He has extended the possibilities of the two-guitar combination through his arrangements of Latin American music by composers such as Piazzolla, Villa-Lobos, and Ginastera as well as Baroque to Modern music by Scarlatti, Rameau, Soler, Bach, Mompou, Ravel, Debussy, and Gershwin among others. He has completed over 300 arrangements for different chamber music settings arrangements for Gidon Kremer, Dawn Upshaw, Yo Yo Ma, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, TrioConBrio, Iwao Furusawa, Paquito D'Rivera, Turtle Island String Quartet, L.A. Quartet, Luciana Souza, and Vancouver Cantata Singers.Composition
As a composer Assad has completed more than fifty works for guitar, many of which have become standards in the guitar repertoire. His "Aquarelle" for solo guitar was chosen as the required contemporary work for the 2002 Guitar Foundation of America Competition in Miami. In 2007, he wrote the set piece for the 2008 Guitar Foundation of America Competition named "Valsa de Outono". Assad's orchestral compositions include the ballet "Scarecrow", the concerto "Mikis" for guitar and strings, "Fantasia Carioca" for two guitars which he and Odair premiered with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra in 1998, "Interchange", a concerto for guitar quartet and orchestra premiered by the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet with the San Antonio Symphony in 2009, the concerto "Originis" for violin, guitar duo, and orchestra recorded live with the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, and the concerto "Phases" for guitar duo and orchestra premiered in 2011 by the Seattle Symphony Orchestra with the Assad Brothers as soloists.Teaching
Assad has taught master classes in conservatories, universities, and music schools in the US, Europe, Latin America, Japan, and Australia. From 1994 to 1996, he taught at the Conservatoire Royal de Musique in Mons, near Brussels, and from 2003 to 2006 at the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University. He is currently on faculty at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.Collaborations
The Assad Brothers have collaborated in performance and recordings with classical artists Gidon Kremer, Yo-Yo Ma, Dawn Upshaw, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, the Turtle island Quartet and Paquito D’Rivera. The collaboration with Salerno-Sonnenberg inspired Sergio to write the triple concerto "Originis" for violin, two guitars and chamber orchestra. This piece celebrates the respective Italian and Brazilian roots of Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg and the Assad Duo and has been performed with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra among others and recorded live in São Paulo, Brazil with the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo. This recording has been released by Allegro Classical in 2009.Awards
- 2022 - "Anido's Portrait" - Latin Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition, recorded by Berta Rojas on Album "Legado"
- 2021 - "Archetypes" Grammy nominations for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance; Best Contemporary Classical Composition; and Best Engineered Album - collaboration with Clarice Assad and the Third Coast Percussion
- 2012 - Honorary Degree - Doctor of Music - University of Arizona
- 2010 - "Interchange", a concerto for guitar quartet and orchestra, was nominated for the Best Classical Contemporary Composition at the 11th Latin Grammy Awards.
- 2010 - "Maracaípe", a piece for guitar duo, was nominated for the Best Classical Contemporary Composition at the 11th Latin Grammy Awards.
- 2008 - His compositions for two guitars, "Tahhiyya Li Ossoulina", received a Latin Grammy award as best contemporary composition.
- 2002 - The album "Sérgio and Odair Assad Play Piazzolla" received a Latin Grammy award for best Tango album.
- 1973 – Winner of Competition for young soloists – the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra.
- 1979 - Winner of The Rostrum for Young Interpreters in The International Music Competition of Bratislava
List of works
- Três Cenas Brasileiras Two guitars Pinote, Vitoria Regia, Recife dos corais
- Suite Brasileira Two guitars Baião, Canção e Samba
- Aquarelle Solo guitar Divertimento, Valseana, Preludio e Toccatina
- Children's Cradle Solo guitar Berceuse, Dreams, Morning’s Rag
- Saga dos Migrantes Two guitars Retirantes, Trem da Ilusâo, Metropolis, Saudades, Dança Antagonica
- Giornata a Nettuno Guitar ensemble
- Fantasia Carioca Solo guitar
- Suite “Summer Garden” Two guitars Opening, Summer Garden, Farewell, The Friends, Unbalanced, Train of Thoughts, First Encounter, The Old Man, Walk on a Bridge, The Morgue, Invitation, The Well, Water Frenzy, Watermelon, Helping Hands, Rain Storm, Remembrance, A search, Dreams, Passage, Butterflies
- Winter Impressions Flute, Viola and Guitar The Frozen Garden, Blue Solitude, Fire Place. Premiered at Nuertingen International Guitar Festival 1996 by TrioConBrio.
- Círculo Mágico Flute and Guitar
- Uarekena Guitar Quartet
- Fantasia Carioca bis two guitars and chamber orchestra premiered in 1998 with the Saint Paul Orchestra conducted by John Adams
- Sonata solo guitar Allegro Moderato, Andante, Presto
- Jobiniana n 1 Two guitars
- Jobiniana n 2 Flute and guitar
- Jobiniana n 3 Solo guitar
- Jobiniana n 4 Cello and guitar
- Espantalho Chamber Orchestra premiered by the Municipal Symphony Orchestra of São Paulo, Brazil
- Mikis Concerto Fantasia) Solo guitar and String Orchestra Allegro, Andante, Vivace
- The Chase Two guitars
- Pieces for violin and two guitars Andalucia ''Fantasy on Dark Eyes Istambul Tatras Gypsy Songs Vardar's Boat Variations on Django's Nuages.
- Pieces for Clarinet and Guitar Un abbraccio a Joao Menino Grumari Violetas Azuis Champ Velho Retrato Hopscotch Mangabeira Angela
- Campusca Two guitars
- Eterna Two guitars
- Menino Cello and two guitars.
- Menino Flute, viola and guitar
- Three Greek letters Solo guitar Psi Pi Sigma
- Concerto Originis Triple concerto for violin, two guitar and chamber Orchestra.
- 3 Divertimentos Solo guitar Abaete Arpoador Parati
- 5 World Dances Guitar and string quartet Middle Eastern, Celtic, African, Balkan, Latin American
- Eli's Portrait Solo guitar
- Itaipava Flute, violin, clarinet, cello, piano
- Tahhiyya Li Ossoulina Two guitars
- Trois Brésiliens à Saint Paul Guitar ensemble Le naïf, La joyeuse, Le reveur, Rencontre a Tricastin
- Piatã Choir and two guitars
- Alvorada Tropical 4 Guitars
- Sinceridade 4 guitars
- Interchange Concerto for Four Guitars and Orchestra Sephardic Passage Gypsy Slopes, Pacific Overlook, Forroblues Detour, Crossings
- Valsa de Outono for solo guitar
- Familia Song for the Assad Family
- 6 Brevidades for solo guitar Tarde, Chuva, Feliz, Ginga, Cantiga, Saltitante
- Maracaípe for two Guitars Wistful Rider Crab walk
- The Enchanted Island for Guitar Trio
- Suite “Back to Our Roots” with Clarice Assad For voice, piano, guitar and sazouki Leaving Hope Nostalgia Happiness
- Suite Brasileira II for Guitar Trio
- Phases Concerto for two guitars and Orchestra Recollections Old Portrait Ressurgence
- Central do Brasil for guitar and string quartet
- Impressiones Ibéricas for solo guitar Asturiana, Catalana, Andaluza,''
- Sandy's Portrait for solo guitar
- Concerto Popular do Rio for guitar and orchestra
- Kindergarten for guitar trio
- Alphalt Jungle for percussion ensemble.
- Suite Brasileira III for solo guitar.
- Suite Brasileira IV for solo guitar
- Suite Brasileira V for solo guitar
- Homage a Julian Arcas for solo guitar
- Imbricatta for solo guitar
- Anido's Portrait for solo guitar
- Sonhos e Memorias for English Horn and Orchestra.
- Sun Wukong's Toccata for solo guitar
- Shadows and Light for solo guitar
- Variaciones sobre un estudio de F. Sor for solo guitar
- Suite One Week in Rio for guitar duo
- Variations on a Lullaby for two guitars and voice.
- One 4 All 4 one For four guitars
- David's Portrait for solo guitar
- Yesterday's Tomorrow for Choir and Guitar Quartet.
- Quadros do Brasil Concerto for Cello and Orchestra.
- The Walls for guitar and guitar orchestra. ". Premiered in Bonn on April 22, 2018 on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the BMKG with Aniello Desiderio, Thomas Offermann
- 12 Coloquial Preludes for solo guitar
- Seikilos Epitaph's Fantasy for solo guitar