CLAIRE O’REILLY
Assistant Life & Arts Editor
A tribute concert to Roland Dyens, a famous and renowned guitarist with an intimate connection to Fredonia, will be held on March 23 at 8 p.m. in Rosch Recital Hall. Dyens recently died this past October.
“He was brilliant, just truly amazing,” said head of Fredonia’s guitar program James Piorkowski. The two shared a special bond for many years.
“I knew of his reputation because he was such a looming figure in the world of classical guitar composition, performance and improvisation, but I met him at a festival in Ohio that we were both performing in. This was maybe [about] 14 years ago,” said Piorkowski. “We both were asked to serve on a composer’s form panel. There were three composers for guitar music on this panel, and I was honored to be one of them.”
As the panel went on and more questions were asked, Piorkowski said that he and Dyens realized they had many similar thoughts and influences.
After Ohio, Piorkowski reached out to Dyens. This was the start of a great friendship.
“That summer I was going to Paris with my wife, and I said [to Roland], ‘I’d love to see you if you’re around.’ [Roland] goes, ‘I’m playing a concert. I’ll have tickets waiting for you,’” he said. “So we went, and there was this huge line, I mean he was a big, big star. We got to go right into the theatre and pick our seat. I think everybody else was really angry that we walked right in.”
Piorkowski wanted to repay Dyens in some way for his generosity. So, on that night in Paris, he presented Dyens with a piece that he composed specially for him, titled “Rolando,” a nickname of Dyens’. Dyens told Piorkowski, with a tear in his eye, that that was the first time anyone had ever dedicated a piece to him.
Their friendship continued to grow after that, becoming stronger over the years.
“[Roland] told me early on that he had a brother who died just a couple years before. Before I had known him, I had lost a brother. We became so close that I said, ‘Roland, would it be okay if I adopted you as a brother and you adopted me … ?’ and he said, ‘Of course.’”
Piorkowski spoke very highly of Dyens’ capabilities.
“He was one of the most unique people I’ve ever met, definitely the smartest, unbelievably bright. [He was a] genius. He could speak six languages. We would be somewhere and he’d hear someone speaking Greek or Italian, and he’d start up a conversation,” he said. “Maybe there were others as good in our history, [but] I don’t think anybody better. I’m really serious.”
Other than being a gifted musician, Dyens had a sense of humor.
“He was also incredibly funny, silly funny. I would say, ‘Roland, you have the humor of a 10-year-old.’ He’d say, ‘Oh no. I’m not that mature,’” said Piorkowski. “He told me, ‘Seriously, Jim. After I’m gone, I would rather be more known for being funny than for being a musician.’”
Dyens had a special connection with Fredonia.
“He would come here and teach with our students. [He’d] teach them about performing, he did work in composing seminars with them,” said Piorkowski. “Boy, I’d just shut up and listen. His insight and his creativity was phenomenal.”
His connection went deeper. A few years ago, Piorkowski and colleague Evan Drummond put together a tribute concert to honor him while he was in town. The Fredonia student guitar quartet performed one of his pieces.
“They performed it very well. In fact, so well that as soon as they were done, [Dyens] stood up and gave them a standing ovation. He was so touched by how beautifully they played, how much love and expertise they put into interpreting his music,” said Piorkowski. “A few months later, I opened my email, and there’s an email from Roland [reading] ‘A little gift.’ He wrote a composition for them and sent it no charge. To commission him would be $10,000 to $20,000. You can see how special this human being is. I’m going to say ‘is’ because his music lives on, his spirit lives on in our hearts.”
After Dyens’ unfortunate passing, the idea for another tribute concert was born. The piece Dyens dedicated to the string quartet will be played.
“I hope that [the audience] will take away how unique this beautiful musician was, and how sincere we are, and will be, in this tribute concert. Those are the things [I hope they take away]: his immense talents and our sincerity of honoring him,” he said.