The third concert of the 35th BRNO ’26 International Guitar Festival and Masterclasses took place on Tuesday, 4 August, in the Council Chamber of the New Town Hall. World-renowned guitarist Jorge Caballero presented a solo recital of works by classical composers arranged for acoustic guitar. On this occasion, the festival director Vladislav Bláha and his wife Tatiana Bláha Drobyš presented their new CD Dances Across the World and Through Time.
The BRNO International Guitar Festival and Masterclasses brings together artists, teachers, students and guitar enthusiasts from more than forty countries worldwide. During the first week of August, Brno hosts concerts, masterclasses, the GUITARTALENT competition and lectures focusing on the repertoire of plucked string instruments and their history. With the aim of fostering a sense of togetherness and mutual understanding through music, the festival presents a programme spanning a wide variety of genres.
Jorge Caballero, a lecturer at the University of Toronto, Canada and an honorary professor at the National University of Lima, Peru, has made a name for himself in his career primarily through his guitar adaptations of masterpieces by the great classical composers. He has performed at Lincoln Centre, Carnegie Hall and the Library of Congress, and has collaborated with leading ensembles such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, the Mendelssohn Quartet and Turkey’s Presidential Symphony Orchestra, amongst others.
The opening address was delivered by festival director Vladislav Bláha, who invited Tatiana Bláha Drobyš and Jorge Caballero onto the stage to launch the newly released CD Dances Across the World and Through Time. The Bláhas (Duo Brillante Cordi) performed a short excerpt from Máximo Diego Pujol’s Cable a Tierra and Slavonic Dances, Op. 72, No. 2. Allegretto grazioso by Antonín Dvořák, arranged for domra and acoustic guitar. The first piece, dedicated specifically to Duo Brillante Cordi, was full of energy and momentum and made use of an unusual combination of stringed instruments. In contrast, Dvořák’s Slavonic Dance lost its original elegance and drama, which sounded rather ironic in this instrumentation.
The main programme of the evening was dedicated to Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750). First to be performed was an arrangement of the Cello Suite in C major, BWV 1009. The third in Bach’s cycle of six solo suites, it was probably composed between 1717 and 1723. The individual suites take the form of standard Baroque dances (allemande, courante, sarabande, gigue) with an added introductory prelude and a gallant section in the form of a bourrée. The Prelude features a main theme based on a scale alternating with rapid arpeggios, which introduced the suite with genuine tenderness. The lively and cheerful Allemande was paired with the dynamic Courante, during which Jorge Caballero demonstrated his gallant dexterity. The slow Sarabande served as a heartfelt prelude to the romantic Bourrée I and II, which alternated between the contrasts of C major and C minor in stepwise and chordal motifs. The final movement of the suite, the Gigue, provided a vigorous conclusion that sounded most impressive in Michael Lorimer’s arrangement and Caballero’s performance. The following Prelude and Fugue in C-sharp minor, BWV 849 from the collection Das Wohltemperierte Klavier, I. Teil (The Well-Tempered Clavier, Part 1) dates from the same period as the cello suites. This seminal collection for keyboard instruments comprises 48 preludes and fugues covering all major and minor keys chromatically. Jorge Caballero chose the challenging C-sharp minor for his arrangement, in which the theme of the Prelude possesses a depth and clarity that he rendered perfectly on the guitar. He played the intricate and extremely dense five-part fugue, with some difficulty, yet without error and without losing the tension. A clever choice was the Fantasia and Fugue in A minor, BWV 904 for harpsichord, which, with its sharp sound, is similar to the acoustic guitar. It dates from Bach’s years in Weimar, where he lived and worked from 1708 to 1717. The Fantasia featured wild arpeggios over a descending chromatic bass, whilst the Fugue, with its mystical theme, developed the descending motif within a complex harmonic structure, which Caballero performed with great skill.
In the second half of the evening, the music shifted to the Romantic 19th century. The Piano Sonata in B minor, S. 178 by the Hungarian pianist and pioneer of the symphonic poem, Ferenc Liszt (1811–1886), was performed in his own arrangement. Published in 1854, it has an unusual form for its time consisting of a single movement internally divided into 15 sections varying on the same motifs over a duration of 30 minutes. Liszt held nothing back on grandiose expression, tension or sweet and heartfelt emotion; indeed, he was renowned for devising new piano techniques and pushing the instrument’s limits. Caballero delivered a fully committed performance, demonstrating exceptional technical command and precision.
The evening concluded with two miniatures by Isaac Albéniz (1860–1909). A composer of the late Romantic period and a friend of Liszt, he infused his piano and operatic works with Spanish melody and rhythm, which are often adapted for the guitar repertoire. Capricho Catalán from the Piano Suite Española, Op. 165 and the serenade Torre Bermeja from the collection 12 piezas características, Op. 92 are shining examples of this. The gypsy melodies and syncopated rhythms played at a lively tempo sounded utterly natural under Caballero’s fingers. A careful selection of arrangements presented this range of classical works in a new light, which Jorge Caballero conveyed to the audience with sublime artistry.
Performers:
Duo Brillante Cordi
Vladislav Bláha – acoustic guitar
Tatiana Bláha Drobyš – domra
Jorge Caballero – acoustic guitar
Programme:
Duo Brillante Cordi – A taste of the CD ‘Dances Across the World and Through Time’
Máximo Diego Pujol
‘Cable a Tierra’
Antonín Dvořák
Slavonic Dances, Op. 72, No. 2. ‘Allegretto grazioso’; arr. Vladislav Bláha
Johann Sebastian Bach
Cello Suite in C major, BWV 1009; arr. Michael Lorimer
Prelude and Fugue in C sharp minor, BWV 849; arr. Jorge Caballero
Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue in A minor, BWV 904; arr. Jorge Caballero
Ferenc Liszt
Piano Sonata in B minor, S. 178; arr. Jorge Caballero
Isaac Albéniz
Piano Suite Española, Op. 165, No. 5. ‘Capricho Catalán’; arr. Michael Lorimer
12 piezas características, op. 92, No. 12. ‘Torre Bermeja’, serenata; arr. Jorge Caballero
Tuesday, 4 August 2026 at 8 pm, New Town Hall, Brno
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