Roland Dyens (1955-2016) was one of the most prolific and exceptionally creative musical voices in the world of classical guitar in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. My clinic/performance at PASIC 2026, “Contemporary Fusions: Interpreting and Performing the Music of Roland Dyens on Marimba,” will demonstrate the artistic potential of adapting several of his most defining works for the marimba. In doing so, I aim to inspire additional performances of Dyens’s works and encourage further exploration of the repertoire of influential guitar composers and arrangers of the past century.

Dyens’s compositional voice was largely defined by his remarkable ability to blend his classical French background with popular and global styles. I will perform and discuss four of Dyens’s most iconic works and arrangements during my PASIC 2026 clinic/performance. These works are Felicidade (2001), ‘Round Midnight (2001), Hommage à Villa-Lobos (1987), and Nuages (1999). These works, two of which have never been performed on the marimba, encapsulate Dyens’s joyful exploration of popular styles through a classical lens as well as his appreciation for Latin American “greats” like Villa-Lobos. My performance of these works will highlight the untapped potential of the marimba to authentically convey styles such as jazz and funk as heard in ’Round Midnight and Nuages, as well as Latin American–inspired idioms in Hommage à Villa-Lobos and Felicidade.

In addition to my performances, I will present on the technical challenges and opportunities for timbral exploration when performing these works on marimba, as well as what features in Dyens’s compositional style in particular lend his works so well to our percussive medium.

The session will follow a discussion–performance format for each piece and will run approximately 50 minutes.