PAPER-MÂCHE MUSIC
LA GUITARRA DE CARTÓN
The event opens with a moment of strong scenic impact.
The guitarist, alone on stage in the darkened room, stands behind a backlit screen. She plays the same piece on three different guitars: two highly prized historical instruments and a copy of the famous Papier-Mâché.
The audience sees only his silhouette projected onto the white screen, unable to distinguish which guitar he's playing. They'll only find out at the end.
The “behind the curtain” rehearsal is a game with the audience, who can write down their own performances on the specially prepared programme.
sensations and try to guess which of the three is the Papier-Mâché guitar.
We guarantee that there is usually no shortage of surprises!
Among those who guess which Papier-Mâché guitar it is, the name of the person who will receive a free vinyl record recorded by Federica with this instrument and a book written by Fabio Zontini on the history of the Papier-Mâché will be drawn.
THE CONFERENCE
After the "behind the curtain" rehearsal, luthier Fabio Zontini introduces us to the mysterious history of this instrument. Torres' Papier-Mâché was a unique case in the history of guitar making, not just guitars: Torres was the first and, as far as we know, the only one to build the only known Papier-Mâché instrument, in 1862. The event aims to rediscover and revive the distinctive tonal and sonic characteristics of this fascinating guitar, since the original, preserved at the Barcelona Music Museum, is no longer capable of expressing its true voice. Paradoxically, despite its apparent modesty, the Papier-Mâché offers a fascinating, mysterious, and unique world of sound. Luthier Fabio Zontini has taken up Torres' challenge and has been building Papier-Mâché copies for nearly twenty years. The one we'll hear in concert was completed in 2023, weighs just 995 grams, and is fitted with natural gut strings. The Papier-Mâché is a living contradiction, juxtaposing its humble material with its artistically astonishing sound. And inspired by this contrast, a program was conceived that emblematically reflects the paradox that embodies the guitar's identity, perpetually poised between its humble, authentic, and popular soul on the one hand, and the Olympus of classical music on the other.
THE CONCERT
Following the lecture, you will have the opportunity to hear Fabio Zontini’s *Papier-Mâché* performed by Federica Artuso. The programme consists entirely of works by guitarist-composers who lived during the era of the cardboard guitar and who worked with Torres’s instruments. These guitarists are part of that performing tradition and that poetic sound for which "Papier-Mâché" stands as a symbol.
The concert will open with folk-inspired pieces by Arcas and Parga, composers who sought to elevate the guitar to the status of a classical instrument, whilst failing to shake off its flamenco influences. Their style is perfectly suited to the archaic simplicity of Papier-Mâché’s sound, and their music, whilst deeply rooted in folk tradition, gradually leads us towards the bourgeois, salon-style music of Tarrega, a pupil of Arcas. Tarrega’s music is no longer just for those with flamenco running through their veins or for those who regard opera as the only form of highbrow music. It is music that appeals to intellectuals and, whilst it may include the occasional dance, it does so only on condition that it is a salon dance. Unlike the guitarist-composers who preceded him, Tarrega succeeds in shaping his expressive outbursts into fully realised forms. Miguel Llobet, a pupil of Tarrega’s, is known as a composer primarily for his guitar arrangement of the "Canciones populares catalanas". The section of the programme dedicated to him also features a repertoire which, whilst not of his own composition, faithfully represents him. Maria Luisa Anido was a pupil of Llobet, as well as his partner in a guitar duo. The Argentine musician was one of the last guitarists in the 1950s to use gut strings – by then difficult to come by – and, incidentally, she owned Tarrega’s very own Torres guitar (1864, FE17). Anido epitomises the image of the guitar as a watershed between the worlds of folk music and classical music. This is demonstrated by her irresistible transcriptions of the great classics such as Bach, Mozart and Tchaikovsky, as well as her South American pieces, pulsating with indigenous energy.
PROGRAMME
Julian Arcas (1832-1882)
Bolero y Soleà
Carlos Garcia Tolsa (1858-1905)
Al fin solos
Juan Parga (1843-1899)
Mi lira op.8 n.1 Ramillete de salon
Francisco Tarrega (1852-1909)
Maria Gavota, Adelita Mazurka, Alborada Caixa de Música
Enrique Granados (1867-1916) Trascrizione M. Llobet
Danza española n.5 Andaluza
Miguel Llobet (1878-1938)
El testament de n’Amelia y Canço de lladre
Maria Luisa Anido (1907-1996)
Cancion de Yucatan, El misachico, Boceto indigena,Minuetto dal Don Juan di Mozart (trascrizione M.L. Anido)
A video from the concert at Museo Nazionale degli Strumenti Musicali - Rome:
THE ALBUM
The project culminated in the release in June 2024 of an album (on 180g top-clear vinyl and gold CD) on the Velut Luna label, featuring music by Arcas, Parga, Garcia Tolsa, Tarrega, Llobet and Anido. The Velut Luna label places great emphasis on high-fidelity sound capture during the recording process and on the quality of the vinyl during production.
Since its release, the album has received numerous critical accolades:
- The ‘Chitarra d’Oro’ award for best solo album of 2024, presented by the Scientific Committee of the 30th International Guitar Conference in Milan
- ‘Album of the Month’ for May 2024 on MusicVoice (previewed by MusicVoice music critic Andrea Bedetti; review available at: https://musicvoice.it/da-antonio-de-torres-a-fabio-zontini-elogio-della-chitarra-di-cartone/);
-Amadeus d’Oro award in November 2024 (review by Marco Riboni).
-Featured amongst the two ‘New Releases’ in the Japanese magazine Gendai Guitar in September 2024.
-Featured on the radio programme PrimoMovimento on RAI Radio 3.
Click here to listen to the episode!
-featured on the radio programme *The Intimate Guitar* in Ohio, USA. Click here to listen to the episode!
-Review in Ritmo (Spain) in May 2025 by Esther Martin
-Feature article in Gendai Guitar (Japan) in July 2025
You can also listen to the album on Spotify!
SCHEDULE
The Papier-Mâché project – whether in the form of a lecture, a lecture-concert or simply a concert – has so far taken place on the following dates:
2023
- 11 November: lecture and concert at the National Museum of Musical Instruments in Rome. In addition to the video of the lecture mentioned above, several videos of Federica Artuso’s performances from the Rome concert are available on the RomaExpoGuitar YouTube channel. You can listen to her performance of several pieces by Francisco Tárrega via the link
2024
- 27 January: publication of an online concert on the SiccasGuitars YouTube channel, which can be viewed by clicking here.
- 9 March: lecture-concert at the “Braga” Conservatoire in Teramo as part of a series of events dedicated to the 19th-century guitar;
- 27 March: lecture-concert at the International Guitar Festival of the Adria Conservatoire (RO);
- 27 July at 10.00, lecture-concert as part of the “Meeting with Luthier” event organised by Maestro Stefano Grondona, the only guitarist to have released recordings on the original Papier-Mâché guitar.
- 27 July, 9.00 pm: concert by Federica Artuso on a Papier-Mâché guitar and an original Torres guitar for the “Luigi Legnani” International Guitar Festival in Edolo (BS)
- 28 August: lecture-concert with album launch at the GuitarMaster Festival on Lake Orta
- 13 December: lecture-concert with album launch at the “Bonporti” Conservatoire, Riva del Garda (TN)
2025
- 6 April: Lecture by Fabio Zontini on the Papier-Mâché guitar, “Marziali Violin-Making Exhibition”
- 11 April: Lecture and concert on the Papier-Mâché guitar at the Accademia Piemontese di Liuteria S. Filippo (Turin)
-25 April: Concert featuring the Papier-Mâché guitar and a Garcia guitar to open the Ansaldi-Servetti National Competition (S. Giacomo di Roburent, Cuneo)
-16 May: Concert featuring the Papier-Mâché guitar and a Garcia guitar with Federica Artuso, Sassari Conservatoire
-28–30 May: Concert featuring the Papier-Mâché guitar and a Garcia guitar, plus a masterclass in Oristano (Sardinia)
-6–8 June: Lectures and concerts on the Papier-Mâché guitar at the Guitares en Cévennes festival (France)
-9 June: Lecture-concert at the Galerie des Luthiers in Lyon (France)
-12 June Concert featuring the Papier-Mâché guitar and an original Torres guitar at the Jornadas Antonio de Torres in Almería (Spain)
-10 July Release of a new video featuring the Papier-Mâché guitar on the Galerie des Luthiers YouTube channel. Watch the video here.
-1 August Presentation of the Papier-Mâché album for NextGen, as part of the Lerici Music Festival. Watch the video here
-11 October: Award ceremony for the ‘Papier-Mâché’ album, which received the Chitarra d’Oro award as part of the 30th International Guitar Conference
-24–26 October: Concert featuring the ‘Papier-Mâché’ guitar and a Torres guitar at the Musik Akademie in Łódź (Poland)
- 8 November: Concert featuring the Papier-Mâché guitar and a Torres guitar at Barco Teatro (Padua)
- 13 November: lecture and concert on the Papier-Mâché guitar, Rotary Club Bressanone (Bolzano)
-21 December: recital on the Papier-Mâché guitar and Torres guitar, Festival "Musica al Tempio" Pinerolo , Torino
2026
- 31 January: conference-concert at the National Museum of Musical Instruments in Rome
- 6–8 February: Conference and concerts at the Haría International Festival, Lanzarote (Canary Islands)
- 19 March: concert featuring Papier-Mâché and Torres guitars at the Mujeres Guitarristas festival in Córdoba (Spain)
- 12 April: conference-concert at the Civic Museum of Cremona
- 22 May: concert featuring Papier-Mâché and Torres guitars as part of the ‘I luoghi evocativi della chitarra’ festival – Valpolicella, Verona