Luiz, who grew up in São Paulo, Brazil, is the director of chamber music and head of guitar studies at CUNY Hunter College. He also teaches guitar at Stony Brook University. In addition to being a member of Trio Virado, he performs solo and with Douglas Lora in Brasil Guitar Duo, which has performed twice in Dayton.
Luiz recently answered some questions by phone from his home in New York.
Q: What appeals to you about working in the trio format with viola, flute and acoustic guitar?
A: There is something very special about this combination of instruments. Traditionally speaking, other than two guitars or a guitar ensemble, the most successful combination with guitar is flute and guitar. There’s tons of music for that and when you put viola with guitar and flute, it has such a great color. You have the sweetness of the viola with this very incredible register. It’s not super high like a violin so it doesn’t overpower everybody else. It works so well as a middle voice, like in counterpoint with the flute. It’s such a great companion to the guitar and you don’t run into balance issues. Each instrument works and speaks well within its own range. That’s really the incredible thing about this type of ensemble.
Credit: CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Credit: CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Q: What can Daytonians expect from this concert?
A: We’ll be bringing this fresh look at classical music to Dayton with Brazilian influence and Latin American influence. I’m so honored to play with Amy and Jaime. The nice thing is you don’t always get this type of combination playing together so it’s really, really special and, then, the program is really spectacular. We’re presenting some works we recorded on our first CD and some other works that we’ve been playing for a while but they will be featured on our next CD.
Q: What else are you working on?
A: In addition to the trio and duo, I play a bunch of solo stuff. I have these pieces by Leo Brouwer and Sergio Assad that were written for me a couple of years ago. It’s a massive amount of music so I’ve been rehearsing that. Sergio wrote 24 studies. All together it’s over two hours. Brouwer wrote a sonata, which is pretty substantial so I’m kind of practicing those things. I’m recording the Assad for my third solo album. I recorded the first eight last year and I have another recording session in November so I’m preparing for that now too.
Q: What’s going on with Brasil Guitar Duo?
A: We just released our newest album of music, something we’ve been making for more than 10 years. I’ve actually been working on the arrangements for that album since 1997. We recorded it in 2018 and the album is finally out. I’m not playing concerts with the duo until next year. We’ll be promoting the album and everything then. It’s hard to get together because I’m in New York and he’s in Brazil and also in California. It’s much easier for Trio Virado to get together even though Jaime commutes between Puerto Rico and the United States. Amy is in Michigan, and my wife’s family, my in-laws, are in Michigan so we meet up in Michigan a lot to rehearse and record.
Credit: CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Credit: CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Q: Have you been recording with the trio?
A: We’re very excited some of the music we’re playing on this program will be featured on our CD we’re recording next year in May. Sergio wrote a new piece and I wrote a new piece. We might have a new Brouwer piece as well. The big thing for us is the Sergio piece, (which is) 12 minutes long. We also have this incredible sound engineer, a great friend of mine, Silas Brown. He’s won a lot of Grammys, including two of them just last year. We’ve got a spectacular hall in New Jersey, new repertoire and a great sound engineer to produce it. That’s a big thing for the trio. We’re going to be rehearsing the new music and working really hard so we’re ready to go.
Contact this contributing writer at 937-287-6139 or e-mail at donthrasher100@gmail.com.
HOW TO GO
What: University of Dayton’s ArtsLIVE presents Trio Virado in a Vanguard Legacy Concert
Where: University of Dayton, Sears Recital Hall, Jesse Philips Humanities Center, 300 College Park, Dayton
When: 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 9
Cost: Free for UD students, $18 general admission, $15 seniors 60 and older and UD alumni, $10 UD employees and retirees, $5 youth and students younger than 21
More info: 937-229-2545 or udayton.edu
Artist info: www.triovirado.com
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