Goya's spain

When I first encountered Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Caprichos de Goya, I was struck by how cinematic this music feels. It is as if Goya’s etchings had already found their soundtrack, with only the film still missing. That thought became the seed for this program.

Alongside the guitar works, the concert features a short film about Goya’s life, created in collaboration with filmmaker Julian Güttge. The film provides a visual and narrative frame for the music, while I perform the soundtrack live on stage. In this way, image and sound intertwine, much like Goya’s art and Tedesco’s music.

Castelnuovo-Tedesco was himself a film composer in Hollywood, where he not only wrote for the screen but was also a renowned composition teacher and taught some of the greatest names in film music, including John Williams. It feels natural, then, to experience his Caprichos in this cinematic light.

The program is completed with works by Spanish composers Isaac Albéniz, Joaquín Rodrigo, and Francisco Tárrega—masters who captured the essence of Spanish landscapes, dances, and emotions in sound. Together with Tedesco’s evocative cycle, they create a vivid portrait of Spain, seen through the eyes of Goya and heard through the voice of the guitar.