|  The Assads
Sergio and Odair
"I believe we were always meant to be a team right from the
first time we picked up our guitars. We began playing guitar at
exactly the same time, we always studied with the same teachers and
learned the same music and techniques. Such interaction can only
really happen with brothers, because we shared every aspect of our
musical education together."
The Assads' St. Louis Post-Dispatch Interview
The Assads embark on a North American tour in fall 1995 with
engagements that include Toronto's Ford Centre, and performances in
Phoenix, Nashville, The Wolf Trap Foundation in Vienna, Virginia, and
New York City. In 1993-94, the duo returned to Carnegie's Weill
Recital Hall in New York. Last season they appeared at Pasadena's
Ambassador Auditorium and in San Francisco, Seattle, Miami and New
York City.
The twentieth century has produced a number of guitar duos formed by
happenstance or recording-company intervention. But for
Brazilian-born siblings Sergio and Odair Assad, the roots obviously
go much deeper. Today's foremost guitar duo, the Assads have been
credited with doublehandedly reviving Brazilian music for the
instrument. Gnattali, Nobre, Krieger, and Mignone have dedicated
pieces to them, as have the Russian Nikita Koshkin, Argentinian Astor
Piazzolla, and Frenchman Roland Dyens.
As children, the Assads' mandolinist father guided their discovery of
Brazilian music. Their uncanny ability to play guitar together soon
evidenced itself, and seven years of study with the classical
guitarist and lutenist Monina Tavora (a disciple and former pupil of
Andrés Segovia) followed.
The Assads' American career began in 1969, under the "Youth for
Understanding" aegis. A major prize at the "Rostrom of Young
Interpreters" in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, launched their European
career. They also achieved victory in the 1973 Brazilian Symphonic
Orchestra competition for young soloists.They have performed in
recital and with orchestra throughout France, Germany, Austria,
Belgium, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Poland, Luxembourg,
Slovenia, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, Australia, Great
Britain, the Far East, Argentina, and their native Brazil.
Their Baroque CD (Nonesuch, 1994) has received wide acclaim and they
recorded their fourth CD for the label, to be released in 1996. Their
previous two discs for Nonesuch featured the music of Latin-American
composers.
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