Prelude

Prelude grew from a moment of improvisation around an A major chord with a persistent drone bass. The piece asks the performer to maintain a consistent bass timbre while moving between open strings and fretted notes — sustaining and letting notes ring throughout, with chromatic passages that interrupt this continuity. The interplay between sustained resonance and forward motion gives the piece its character.

Gabriel Diaz (b. 1998) is a Cuban/French-Canadian guitarist and composer based in Vancouver, B.C. He credits his father for introducing him to music, which at a young age shaped his eclectic compositional style. Diaz earned his Bachelor of Music from Vancouver Community College under the tutelage of guitarist Adrian Verdejo, and has studied with Rene Izquierdo, Patrick Roux, Jason Vieux, and Jerome Ducharme.