Raphaël Feuillâtre makes his Chamber Music Northwest debut on Thursday 5 November with Latin Passions, a solo recital at Portland’s Old Church Concert Hall. The performance begins at 7:30pm and is listed as approximately 90 minutes.
The title suggests a geographical journey, but the programme offers another thread worth following: the relationship between music written for the guitar and music that reaches it through an arranger’s imagination.
Listening across instruments
Feuillâtre’s own arrangements of Albéniz’s Torre Bermeja, Asturias and Capricho Catalan sit beside Tárrega’s Capricho árabe and Recuerdos de la Alhambra. Scarlatti’s D-major Sonata K.492 appears in Gérard Abiton’s transcription. Later, Piazzolla’s Invierno Porteño is heard in Sérgio Assad’s arrangement.
Rather than treating transcription as a substitute for an original, listeners can follow what each arrangement asks of the instrument: how a line is sustained, how textures are separated, and how rhythmic energy survives the move to plucked strings. Those are useful questions even when the music is familiar.
The programme also includes works by Barrios, Lauro, Brouwer, Villa-Lobos and Assad, concluding with Fuoco from Roland Dyens’s Libra Sonatine.
From keyboard repertoire to the classroom
That interest in other instruments is central to Feuillâtre’s recording history. His Deutsche Grammophon debut, Visages Baroques, transferred keyboard music by composers including Bach, Rameau and Couperin to the guitar. The label’s biography also identifies teaching and arranging as important parts of his work, alongside his concert career.
Portland audiences have a second opportunity to encounter the guitarist: Chamber Music Northwest’s calendar lists a classical-guitar masterclass on Friday 6 November at 10am. Check the presenter’s event information for attendance arrangements and location.
The recital venue is at 1422 SW 11th Avenue, Portland. Tickets are linked from the official concert page.
Sources: Concert and programme; November calendar; Label biography.
Information checked 1 November 2026. Event times are local to the venue; consult the organiser for updates.
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