Roland Dyens

Life and career

Dyens was born in Tunisia and lived most of his life in Paris. He studied with Spanish classical guitarist Alberto Ponce and with Désiré Dondeyne.

As a performer, Dyens was known for improvisation. Sometimes he opened his concerts with an improvised piece, and he might improvise the program itself, without planning or announcing beforehand what he would be playing. He said that a journalist once told him he had the hands of a classical musician but the mind of a jazz musician. He played Bach suites and he played with jazz musicians at the Arvika Festival in Sweden. A heavy metal band did a version of the third movement of his Libra Sonatine.

Dyens released several volumes of arrangements that included not only the classical music of Fernando Sor but also the Brazilian music of Heitor Villa-Lobos, jazz standards by Thelonious Monk, the French pop of Edith Piaf, and the Gypsy jazz of Django Reinhardt.

Tango en Skaï (1985), is one of his best-known pieces, but also widely played is the more extended Libra Sonatine (1986) written in three movements: "India", "Largo", "Fuoco", composed after Dyens had heart surgery. "Its three movements are an explicit portrayal of that very particular period of my life: first the chaotic India (before the operation), then the Largo (during it) and finally the Fuoco, in which the unrestrained rhythms depict a veritable incarnation of my return to life (and several guitarists often play this last movement as an independent piece)" quotes Dyens. "Skaï" is a French slang term for imitation leather and here refers to the gauchos (cowboys) of Argentina and southern Brazil who are known for their leather outfits.

He taught at Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in the position held by his teacher, Alberto Ponce. He died on October 29, 2016 at the age of 61.

Awards and honors

Selected list of works

Selected discography