Biography
Several times honored with top distinction as the foremost classical guitar duo globally, the Duo Assad came into being when brothers Sérgio Simão Assad and Odair Simão Assad took up the instrument together in childhood. They commenced violão studies simultaneously under identical instructors, absorbing the same repertoire and methods, which fostered an uncommon synergy rooted in deep mutual comprehension and an uncommon fraternal bond. Leading Brazilian concert composers Radamés Gnattali, Marlos Nobre, Edino Krieger, and Francisco Mignone each wrote works expressly for the pair, as did Roland Dyens, Nikita Koshkin, and Astor Piazzolla. Their mandolinist father, himself a chorão, introduced them to the violão in 1966. After the family relocated to Rio de Janeiro in 1969, the siblings studied for seven years with classical guitarist and lutenist Monina Távora, a former pupil of Andrés Segovia. They captured first prize in the Brazilian Symphonic Orchestra’s young soloists competition in 1973. Their initial LP, made with the Orquestra Armorial, appeared in 1977. Across their partnership the duo issued more than twenty-one albums under their own name and contributed to notable projects such as Yo Yo Ma’s Soul of the Tango CD in 1997. Their United States debut occurred in 1979. That same year a major award at the Rostrum of Young Interpreters in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, opened doors across Europe and yielded a solo recording. Once their international profile was firmly established, they made their home on that continent in 1983. Subsequent engagements, several with orchestra, took them to Scandinavia, Australia, Finland’s Turku Music Festival in 1987, Great Britain, Turkey’s Istanbul festival in 1987, Taiwan, Luxembourg, Slovenia, Germany, Austria, Portugal, Greece, Poland, France’s Les Musiques du Monde festival in Paris in 1982, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Holland, Hong Kong, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Canada, Israel, Japan, Argentina, and Brazil. Among the ensembles with which they appeared were the Orquestra Sinfônica Brasileira, Adelaide Symphonic Orchestra, Buenos Aires Symphonic Orchestra, RAI Orchestra, and Belgium National Orchestra. In 1993 and again in 1994 they performed at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall in New York. A 1995 North American tour brought them to Toronto’s Ford Centre, Phoenix, Nashville, the Wolf Trap Foundation in Vienna, Virginia, and New York City. The following year they played Pasadena’s Ambassador Auditorium plus venues in San Francisco, Seattle, Miami, and New York City.
Albums