Miroslav Tadić (Guitar)

Born: 1959 - Tuzla, Bosnia-Herzegovina (former Yugoslavia)

The Serbian-Croatian guitarist, Miroslav Tadić, completed his formal education in the USA after studying in Italy and his native Yugoslavia.

Miroslav Tadić has performed and recorded in a wide variety of settings and musical styles, ranging from music of the Baroque and Classical periods to blues, jazz, and rock. His performing and recording credits include projects with Terry Riley, the Los Angeles Opera with Plácido Domingo, Howard Levy, Joachim Kühn, Dusan Bogdanovic, Vlatko Stefanovski, Theodosii Spasov, Kudsi Erguner, Djivan Gasparyan, Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri, L. Shankar, Markus Stockhausen, Maria João, David Torn and Jack Bruce, among others. He is frequently heard in Europe, Japan and the USA. In 1986 Miroslav Tadić met drummer Mark Nauseef and the master of sound sculpting and recording Walter Quintus. Their collaboration has resulted in a great number of recordings and projects, which continue today and into the future.

In recent years Miroslav Tadić has concentrated on developing an approach to improvisation which combines and juxtaposes musical material drawn from many diverse sources, including Baroque, European classical and North Indian classical music, Eastern European folk traditions, blues, jazz, and rock. He is noted for his pioneering work in applying the elements of classical and flamenco techniques to the electric guitar.

Miroslav Tadić's numerous recordings on ENJA Records, CMP Records, M.A Recordings, Omagatoki and Third Ear Music labels have won international critical acclaim. In its Jan/Feb 1994 issue, the editors of Acoustic Guitar Magazine voted Window Mirror, which includes J.S. Bach's Suite for lute in G minor, BWV 995 (along with the recordings of such guitarists as Julian Bream and Christopher Parkening) one of the five essential classical guitar recordings of the 1990's. ("The Desert Island 100"). He has written music for a number of award-winning experimental film, theater, and dance works. In their January 1997 issue, the editors of Guitar Player magazine voted him one of the world's thirty most radical and individual guitarists.

Since 1985 Miroslav Tadić has been teaching at California Institute of the Arts in Los Angeles.

Miroslav Tadić and Bach

Miroslav Tadić was deeply involved in the music of J.S. Bach during his studies in Italy and at California Institute of the Arts in California. During his student days he learned how to improvise continuo on guitar and took part in a number of J.S. Bach's larger pieces including several cantatas (BWV 78 being one of them). He also worked on an ambitious project of arranging and transcribing The Well Tempered Clavier for two guitars (in original keys) - he completed and performed some of it. Eventually he had to make a decision whether to switch to lute or to stay with guitar and play repertoire that is directly meant for that instrument. He opted to stay with guitar and started developing his own compositions and improvisations that utilize his classical technique and that is where he is today. His recording of Lute Suite in G minor, BWV 995 is the only document of his work on J.S. Bach's music. Tadić still enthusiastically play his works for his own pleasure and musical advancement.

Source: Drummer Mark Nauseef & guitarist Miroslav Tadic Website
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (June 2008)

Miroslav Tadić: Short Biography | Recordings of Instrumental Works

Links to other Sites

Drummer Mark Nauseef and guitarist Miroslav Tadic (Official Website)

Innerviews: Miroslav Tadic - The heart of the instrument
Miroslav Tadic (California Institute of the Arts)