Sérgio & Odair Assad

Taught by a student of Andrés Segovia, and raised in the home of the samba, Sérgio and Odair Assad bring a singular combination of influences to all that they do. Sérgio and Odair grew up in a small town of Brazil, studying, practicing and performing as a duo. It is this identical musical education and experience that The New York Times credits for their “supple, flawlessly unified sound”. As children they already gave concerts in their native Brazil, they were still teenagers when they first performed in New York in 1969: the musical career of the Assad Brothers has been a path both fascinating and successful. They started out with the traditional repertoire of the guitar duo Presti-Lagoya as their base, to which they added contributions of fellow Brazilians Radamés Gnattali, Francisco Mignone, Heitor Villa Lobos, Marlos Nobre, Egberto Gismonti, Wagner Tiso and Hermeto Pascoal.

In the early eighties, Sérgio and Odair rapidly succeeded in making a name for themselves in Europe. Their amazing talent and extraordinary musical personalities astounded and delighted audience after audience. Amongst them was the legendary Astor Piazzolla, who was completely captivated after hearing the siblings play at the house of a mutual friend in Paris in 1983. Shortly afterwards Astor Piazzolla dedicated three original tangos for two guitars to them, the Tango Suite, which has become part of the repertoire of most of today’s guitar duos all over the world.

During their exploration of the treasures of Baroque music, the two brothers each played one hand in two-handed harpsichord pieces of Rameau, Scarlatti, Bach and Couperin, a marvellous experiment which produced a record. Over the years, they have refined their surprising yet harmonious way of mixing styles, periods and cultures, which can be witnessed even in the course of a single evening’s concert. The Assad brothers have added to their repertoire not only the pieces written for them by Nikita Koshkin, Terry Riley and many others, but they have also composed a series of daring adaptations including Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. Their rendition of Darius Milhaud’s Scaramouche or Alberto Ginastera’s Sonata opus 22 for piano leaves audiences amazed to discover that a score so familiar to them can be given such a new and fresh interpretation as regards color, rhythm and passion.

Various commissions and joint projects have since widened the scope of the brothers’ musical involvement: the music of the Japanese film Natsu no Niwa which Sérgio was asked to write and was recorded by the brothers in 1994. Or their joint concerts and recordings: in 1996 with violinist Gidon Kremer and soprano Dawn Upshaw: in 1997 with cellist Yo-Yo Ma (Grammy Award) and violinist Fernando Suarez Paz: in 1998 with violinist Nadja Salerno Sonnenberg, and in 1999 with violinist Iwao Furusawa. Not to mention the concertos for two guitars written for them by Brazilian composers Edino Krieger and Marlos Nobre, and the projects which they are eagerly planning for the future. Their dedicated work and boundless imagination have given Sérgio and Odair the status of “commanders in the world of the guitar”. This duo is a “veritable phenomenon which, with time to mature, will go down in history” (Diapason).

PRESS

Bravo – dezembro 2004; 68-71
Guitarist acoustic – Août à octobre 2004 ; 120 – 122
To Allo Vima (Arts & Culture) 24/02/2002
Guitare Classique – Octobre à décembre 2001 ; 12 – 17
Samstag – Thomas Muttray-Kraus – 25/11/2000
Seicorde – Settembre 2000
Rhythm – June 2000; 20 e- 21
Los Angeles Time – 09/04/2000
Chitarre Classica – n° 169/ Marzo 2000; 4 – 7
Akustik Gitarre – Marz/ April 1999; 20 – 22
Guitare magazine Ed. 226
Acoustic Guitar, August 1997, 72-85 (Sérgio Assad “Farewell)
Guitart – Genaio/ Marzo 1997; 4 – 11
Soundboard N° 3 ; Winter 1997, 13-16
Acoustic Guitar / By Scott Cmiel – May/June 1995; 72-76, 114
Guitar Player, April 1995 ; 99-102
Guitar Review, N° 100, Winter 1995
Guitar Review, N° 101, Spring 1995
Guitar Review, N° 102, Summer 1995
Guitar Review, N° 103, Fall 1995
Fingerstyle Guitar, N° 38
Classical Guitar – January 1994 ; 11 – 16
Fanfare – April 1993
Seicorde – n°26 ; Marzo/Aprile 1991
The Gendai Guitar – July 1989 ; 34 – 39
Gendai Guitar – June 1989 ; 36 – 39
Latina – Juin 1989 ; 8 – 11
MAIS semanário – 15 abril 1989 ; 14
Music Maker – December 1988 ; 32 – 34
Gitarre und Laute – November/ Dezember 1988 ; 8 – 14
Oregon’s Regional Arts Magazine / Front Row – February 1988
Guitar Player – December 1987 ; 34 – 41
Il Fronimo – Aprile 1987 ; 8 – 11
Chitarre n° 3 ; Giugno 1986 ; 64 – 65
Classical Guitar – January 1986 ; 11 – 15
Gendai Guitar – 1986; 20 – 25
Les Cahiers de la Guitare – N°16, 1985 ; 4 & 5
Jornal do Brasil – 31/01/198

COMPLETE DISCOGRAPHY

GHA RECORDS (GHA 126.021)
Lo que vendra
Joaquin Rodrigo, Radamés Gnattali,Astor Piazzolla

NONESUCH RECORDS (7559 791 162)
Latin American Music for two Guitars
Astor Piazzolla, Leo Brouwer, Radamés Gnattali, Sérgio Assad, Alberto Ginastera, Hermeto Pascoal

NONESUCH RECORDS (7559 791 792)
Alma Brasileira
Marlos Nobre, Egberto Gismonti, Heitor Villa Lobos, Sérgio Assad, Hermeto Pascoal, Wagner Tiso, Radamés Gnattali

NONESUCH RECORDS (7559 792 922)
Baroque Music
Domenico Scarlatti, François Couperin, Johann Sebastian Bach, Jean-Philippe Rameau

EGEA (SCA 068)
Velho retrato
Sérgio Assad (guitare) Gabriele Mirabassi (clarinette)

GHA RECORDS (GHA 126.029)
Farewell”
all compositions by Sérgio Assad

NONESUCH RECORDS- 79365-2
Saga dos migrantes
Heitor Villa Lobos, Astor Piazzolla, Alberto Ginastera, Sérgio Assad, Egberto Gismonti

GHA RECORDS (GHA 126.027)
with Fernando Suarez Paz violin & Edmond Carlier cello
Astor Piazzolla, Stepan Lucky, Radamés Gnattali

GHA RECORDS (GHA 126.018)
St Gallen Symphony Orchestra & John Neschling conductor
Joaquin Rodrigo, Mario Castelnuovo Tedesco

GHA RECORDS (GHA 126.025)
Orquesta de Cordoba & Leo Brouwer conductor
Malcolm Arnold

SONY RECORDS (SRCR 2407)
with Iwao Furuzawa violin
From Cinema Paradiso to Pink Floyd / The Wall

NONESUCH RECORDS (7559 79505-2)
with Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg violin
Andalucia

GHA RECORDS (GHA 126.046)
Orquesta de Cordoba & Leo Brouwer conductor
Edino Krieger

NONESUCH RECORDS (79462-2)
with Gidon Kremer violin
.Astor Piazzolla

SONY CLASSICAL (SK63122)
with Yo-Yo Ma cello
Astor Piazzolla

NONESUCH RECORDS (79632-2)
Sérgio & Odair Assad play Piazzolla Grammy 2002 Best Tango Album !
with Fernando Suarez Paz violin, Marcelo Nisinman bandoneon & Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg violin

SONY RECORDS SICC 1
Brazilian Breeze
with Iwao Furuzawa violin
Chico Buarque, Ary Barroso, Tom Jobim, Cartola, Ernesto Nazareth, Pixinguinha, Radamés Gnattali, Hermeto Pascoal, Milton Nascimento, Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Jacob Bittencourt, Egberto Gismonti, Dorival Caymmi

GHA RECORDS (GHA 126.055)
Live in Brussels
with Fernando Suarez Paz violin
Jacob Bittencourt, Carlos Gardel, Juan Carlos Cobian, Astor Piazzolla, Egberto Gismonti, Pixinguinha, Charlie Chaplin

SONY RECORDS ( SK89935)
Obrigado Brazil
Sérgio & Odair Assad play with Yo-Yo Ma Sérgio Assad ‘s arrangement of Villa Lobos’ A Lenda do Caboclo and Sérgio Assad ‘s piece Menino.

SONY RECORDS (SK90970)
Obrigado Brazil Live in Concert
Sérgio & Odair Assad play on seven tracks.