from Lenny Barretto for Daijiworld News Network - Goa

Panaji, Feb 23: The music lovers of Goa were treated to a scintillating Classical Guitar Recital by Italian maestro Piero Bonaguri, Monday the 20th February in the programme held as a part of international guitar festival here at panaji.

He regaled the audience at the Kala Academy Auditorium in Panjim with a choice musical menu, featuring composers right from Bach and Handel (both born in 1685) to P. Ugoletti (b. 1956). The recital comes as a part of the ongoing International Guitar Festival, organized by Guitar Guild Goa (Feb. 20 - 23, 2006).

Bonaguri’s touch of the master was evident in his powerful interpretations of well known compositions like the Prelude, Fugue and Allegro BWW 998 by J.S. Bach, Sarabande by Handel, Grande Overture Op. 61 by M. Giuliani and Sonatina by M. Torroba.

The second part of the programme featured modern composers like Rodrigo, Villa-Lobos and the contemporary Ugoletti, who dedicated his “Summer Memories, Danza per Piero Bonaguri” to the great maestro.

The recital ended with a brilliant rendition of favourites Sevilla and Asturias, by Albeniz and the delirious audience gave him a standing ovation, as he played yet another three encores. The Chief Guest of the day, Bishop Alex Dias of Port Blair, showered praises on the artist and said he had given everyone a foretaste of heaven’s music.

Piero Bonaguri’s performing career has taken him to nearly fifty countries in all the five continents, collaborating with prestigious Institutes and Festivals (the New York Carnegie Hall, the Venice Biennial Ravenna Festival, the Queen Elizabeth Hall and the BBC in London, RAI in Italy, Tokyo’s Museum of Western Art, Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, I Pomeriggi Musicali di Milano, Vienna’s Fine Arts Academy, etc.).
 
Bonaguri has premiered, recorded and edited many pieces for guitar written for him (almost two hundred new compositions have been dedicated to him by well-known composers such as Guarnieri, Cappelli, Ugoletti, Solbiati, Molino, Paccagnini, Benati, etc.).

He has recorded some fifteen CDs and is a Jury member at important international Competitions (Milan, Berlin, Bari). He was also a member of the Jury at the First National Classical Guitar Competition, organized by Guitar Guild Goa on 19th February, 2006, at the same Kala Academy auditorium in Panjim.

Bonaguri has been the soloist with many fine orchestras, particularly in Italy. Graduated “cum laude” at the Parma Conservatory, he holds a “Diploma with Distinction” from the Accademia Chigiana in Siena; he studied with Enrico Tagliavini, Alirio Diaz, Oscar Ghiglia and, last, but not the least, with the great Andrès Segovia, who wrote of him: “He will soon be a famous name among the best guitarists of our time.”

Bonaguri teaches at the Bologna Conservatory (Italy) and holds guitar seminars and master classes in the U.S.A., Japan, Australia, Hong Kong, Russia, at the Royal College of Music (Stockholm), the Music University (Graz), UNAM University in Mexico City, Accademia Pianistica di Imola, Accademia Musicale Umbra and the Rovigo University and Conservatoire (Italy).

Bonaguri’s achievements include a “Tribute to Segovia” recital at Madrid’s Centro de la Villa and a recital at the U.N. headquarters in New York.