CONCERT: Wonderful journey through classical guitar

Hansley Félicité, Jean-Jacques Félix, Gérard Lavigilante, Oulerven Naidu and Nelly Vencatachellum, who between them represent three generations of classical guitarists, took the public on a wonderful journey around the world through the classical guitar last month, as part of an exceptional show that they offered at the Conservatoire national de musique François-Mitterrand (CNMFM), and which they resumed the next day at the Center culturelle d'expression française (CCEF), in Curepipe.

For an hour, the five guitarists took turns on stage, sometimes individually, sometimes as a duo or in a group. It was Gérard Lavigilante, guitar teacher, and Hans Félicité, who stood out during the concert given by the London Symphony Orchestra, who opened this evening with Polonaise Concertante by Mauro Giuliani, by the famous Italian guitarist, cellist, singer and composer of the 19th century, to the delight of the spectators – some of whom were discovering the sounds of the classical guitar for the first time. Gérard Lavigilante continued with Prelude BZV 1007, by the 17th/18th century German composer Jean Sébastien Bach and Ave Maria by Charles Gounod, a 19th century French composer.

Jean-Jacques Félix and Hansley Félicité offered two other classic pieces from the 19th century with Spanish Tango, originally written for piano by the Spanish pianist and composer Issac Albeniz and covered for guitar, and the famous piece Serenade no 1, op 96 (1st movement) by the Italian classical guitarist and composer Ferdinando Carulli. The spectator had the opportunity not only to appreciate the great mastery of the classical guitar demonstrated by the five musicians on older pieces but to hear contemporary composers through the performance of the young musicians.

Nelly Vencatachellum and Oulerven Naidu first performed as a duo on Romance no.1 by Francis Kleynjans. Born in Paris in 1951, Francis Kleynjans started playing classical guitar at the age of 14. He worked with Alexandre Lagoya at the National Conservatory of Music in Paris and subsequently with the Venezuelan guitarist Alirio Diaz. He was a beneficiary of the Yehudin Menuhim Foundation and has, to his credit, composed more than 700 pieces which are performed around the world.

They continued alone, each in turn, to perform Danza Brasileira by the Argentine guitarist, Jorge Morel, born in 1930 and died in 2021 and Sonatina (1st movement) by Morena Torroba, Spanish composer born in 1891 and died in 1982. Hansley Félicité played Songe Capricorne Roland Dyens, French guitarist, composer and arranger, of Tunisian origin, born in 1955 and died in 2016. Roland Dyens was considered a “creative, eclectic, inspiring and living free-spirited” musician by his peers. Oulerven Naidu and Hansley agreed on Prelude and Fugue in E-major by Italian guitarist-composer Mario Castelnuovo Tedesco (18