At 11 years old, Edoardo Catemario gave his first solo recital in Italy. It was the late 1970s and the Naples-born classical guitarist still remembers the day vividly. “It was a family day, one of those rare occasions when we were all together—my mother, my father and my younger sister. I remember that I was scared at the beginning, but people’s applause encouraged me a lot,” he says, over an email interview.

Tender, nostalgic and dexterous all at once, Catemario has, over the last 50-odd years, established himself as a formidable guitarist, educator and arranger when it comes to classical music. After performing with several orchestras around the world and at major venues, he makes his way for the first time to India this month. On 9th July, Catemario will perform with the SOI Chamber Orchestra at the Tata Theatre.

“This is actually a dream come true because I am fascinated by many aspects of Indian culture, health and above all, philosophy. I also admire its mathematicians and chess players. I know a little about the country’s music. I have a friend who introduced me to Carnatic modes, and I have listened to Ravi Shankar,” he says.

While classical music and guitar have an association that goes far back to composing greats like Antonio Vivaldi, Johann Sebastian Bach and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, it is Andrés Segovia (1893 1987) who is widely credited as one of the foremost classical guitarists. It was in the 1950s and ’60s that the movement acquired a more concrete shape and form among artistes, including Julian Bream and John Williams who arguably helped to introduce the instrument to a broader audience.

It is no coincidence that Catemario won the first prize in the Andrés Segovia International Guitar Contest in Almuñécar (now Granada) in 1991, which brought him acclaim in the classical music world. Since then, he has gone on to release music via labels like Decca and Deutsche Grammophon and perform around the world with the Berliner Philharmoniker, Italian Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchester Wiener Akademie, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and more.

He recalls a sold-out Christmas concert he was part of with the Berliner Philharmoniker. “It was thrilling to play where all the legends have played—Celibidache, Muti, Von Karajan, etc.” Out in Melbourne as well, Catemario performed at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl to an audience of about 18,000 in attendance. “People [were] having their picnic and children [were] running around and having fun. It was something that blew my mind—a familiar atmosphere in a place full of people like in a pop music concert. But, after all, it was classical music,” he recounts.

Known to be a less travelled path in the world of guitar playing and classical music, it is not easy to be a classical guitarist who gets to perform with orchestras often. Catemario, however, has kept associations going for several decades now. “The conductor can make all the difference but also the hall, the musicians of the orchestra, the audience. I try to enjoy every occasion and make the repertoire that I play as elegant, moving, charming as I can. It’s not always easy as guitar concertos are not programmed too often,” he says.

Here in India, for the rare occasion of a classical guitar concert, Catemario is planning two concertos with the SOI Chamber Orchestra. Often known for making his own musical arrangements of the repertoire for his performances, he explains two of the works he will be presenting. “One by the Venetian genius Vivaldi (original score for lute and strings) and the other by myself. I wanted to play something that could be ‘easy’ to listen to and, at the same time, of some depth and related to my culture,” he says.

Catemario points to his roots in Napoli (“new town”, literally) which came after Palepoli (“old town”) was abandoned. “The first people living in the area date back to the Bronze Age. Italy is a bit like India when it comes to the cultural [and linguistic] differences between regions. I am proud of Neapolitan culture and weave it into my music often. My roots, my family, the sea, the boats, the sense of nostalgia.” One such piece in the programme for the evening is ‘Fantasia Napoletana’, arranging which has been quite a challenge, he shares. “Due to my tight schedule, I had to be quick and precise. The piece has been arranged and orchestrated in less than one week.”

There will also be Neapolitan songs that he describes as a potpourri of tunes from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries including ‘Funiculì, Funiculà’ and ‘O Sole Mio’. “Many tunes are well known all over the world. My idea is to share with the audience moments of fun, reflection, insight, beauty,” he adds.

Besides being a performer, he is a composer with several orchestral works, pieces with a vocal component, choir and chamber music, and solo pieces to his credit. As a composer, Catemario says, his work is influenced by Béla Bartók, Henryk Wieniawski, Modest Mussorgsky, Giacomo Puccini and Giuseppe Verdi.

A priority for Catemario are his students. Known for having invented what is called the Catemario Method of musical ear training for guitarists and pianists, which several academies have integrated into their courses, he will return to the conservatory where he teaches soon after the concerts in Mumbai. Next on his itinerary are concerts that take him to Germany, Spain and Turkey. Two of his new albums of 19th-century compositions on classical guitar will be out soon too.

His simple guiding principle, Catemario says matter-of-factly, is that he likes all the music he plays. “Otherwise, I prefer not to play it. This is possibly the first ‘above all, no compromise’ choice of my life.”