Figures from Watteau
1 Pierrot Content
2 The Italian Comedians
Dark Sonata
3 In Shadows
4 Interlude
5 Night
6 Naïvement-Rondeau
7 Waltz Cocteau
Serenata Notturna
8 March
9 Waltz
10 Rondo
11 Pájaros del Mar
Helsinki guitar Duo (Jose Casallas & Rody van Gemert) 1-11
Mari Mäntylä 6-10
Petri Kumela 7-10
Antti Ignatius 8-10
"I have always been drawn to the guitar, an instrument capable of so many moods and, more than many others, a possessor of a ‘soul’, a mercurial personality. Although the poet Lorca rightly remarked that the guitar ‘makes dreams weep’, this instrument is possessed by such an unusual and restless spirit that it is equally capable of gaiety and joy, so that darkness and light co-exist within it. Like other plucked instruments such as the harpsichord, the guitar moves effortlessly into the lower registers without any loss of clarity, ruminating in its shadowy depths whilst throwing out higher notes and harmonics that hang above the aural darkness like starlight. It’s these qualities of chiaroscuro that I’ve tried to exploit throughout this recording, from duos to quintet, whilst layering the sounds and voicing the chords in a fashion that gives each piece an individual character." - Graham Lynch
Helsinki Guitar Duo
Rody van Gemert and Jose Casallas started playing together on the Danzando album recording in 2018. Since then, under the name Helsinki Guitar Duo, Rody and Jose have given concerts in different parts of Finland, Sweden and Russia. Apart from performing the well-known repertoire for guitar duo, they work actively with composers such as Graham Lynch, Yimi Manuel Robles, Pekka Jalkanen, among others, to expand their repertoire.
Rody van Gemert
Sweelinck Conservatorium, Amsterdam
Hochschule für Musik und Tanz, Köln, Aachen
Sibelius Academy, DocMus programme, Helsinki
Guitar teacher at Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, Helsinki &
Avonia Music School, Espoo
Over 100 world premières
5 CD recordings, radio and TV broadcasts
Performances in Mexico, Japan and in many European countries, at venues
including the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and the Tokyo Opera City
José Casallas
Colombia National conservatory, Bogota
Ecole Normale de musique Alfred Cortot -college of music, Paris
Music conservatory, L’hay les roses
Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, Helsinki
Royal College of music, Stockholm
Guitar teacher at Avonia school of music, Espoo
Mari Mäntylä
Mari Mäntylä's main instrument is decacorde, the 10-string classical guitar. Mäntylä has given concerts both as a soloist and as a chamber musician throughout Europe, the Middle East and Asia. She is engaged in collaboration with a number of composers from both Finland and abroad. She has given several premiere performances of new music composed for the decacorde and thus she has significantly contributed in making this instrument better known to the public. Mari Mäntylä’s solo albums Decacorde (Alba), Orfeo amoroso and chamber music albums received an excellent response in the music press both in
Finland and abroad. Speira CD (Alba) was also selected as a classical music Emma Award nominee.
Mari Mäntylä is the guitar and chamber music teacher of the Kuhmo Music School. She was also the artistic director of the Tirando Guitar Festival, organised in 2002 and 2003.
Mäntylä studied the guitar at Tampere Conservatory with Jorma Salmela, in the department of solo studies at the Sibelius Academy with Jukka Savijoki, in Oscar Ghiglia’s concert class at the Basel Music Academy in Switzerland and at Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, where she was granted a Diploma di Merito (an honorary diploma), in 1991. She took her
soloist diploma at the Sibelius Academy in 1995 and Konzertreife diploma at the Basel Music Academy in 1997. She gained her Master of Music degree in 1998.
Petri Kumela
Petri Kumela is one of Finland’s most international and sought-after classical guitarists. He is equally at home with period instruments as in working with contemporary composers and is known for his originality and versatility.
Petri Kumela has appeared outside Finland in many European countries, South America, the United States, Russia, Japan, India and Bhutan, at venues that have ranged from intimate domestic concerts to prestigious concert halls. Besides playing solo concerts he is an active chamber musician and performs regularly as soloist with orchestras.
An artist with a special commitment to contemporary music, Petri Kumela has premiered ten guitar concertos and countless other works both in Finland and abroad. He has released ten albums and made a number of recordings for the Finnish Broadcasting Company and other radio and television networks.
His album ”Small Creatures – A Musical Bestiary” (2020) was selected as the Recording of the Year by the Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE) and was awarded the recording industry ́s EMMA- prize for the Best Classical Album.
Antti Ignatius
Antti Ignatius did the Degree Program in Classical Music at the Helsinki Polytechnic Stadia in the Juan Antonio Muro class. He went on to do his music professional specialisation studies at the Turku University of Applied Sciences, Finland, under the tuition of Timo Korhonen and Ismo Eskelinen and finalized his musical studies in The Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain with Alex Garrobe. Antti is a lecturer guitar teacher at the Avonia school of music in Espoo, Finland. In this recording he is playing a bass guitar.
