Premieres Friday, May 2, 2025 at 8 p.m. on KPBS TV / PBS app
Agustín Barrios was born and raised in rural Paraguay, far from the world’s artistic capitals. Inspired by his native folk music, Spanish guitar composers and classical masters like Bach and Chopin, Barrios toured relentlessly through Latin America countries, writing innovative compositions that captured their sound, to become one of the most significant guitar composers of the 20th century.
Host Scott Yoo traces his path from Paraguay through Uruguay with young French-Spanish guitarist Thibaut Garcia, fresh off the release of his new Barrios recording.
In Brazil, he explores how Barrios absorbed the folk music of other countries with composer and guitarist Cyro Delvizio. In Mexico, he learns of Barrios’ troubled beginnings, mid-life crisis and ultimate career triumph from the world’s leading Barrios expert, Dr. Fred Sheppard.
Places visited: Rural Paraguay; Montevideo, Uruguay; Rio de Janeiro Brazil; Mexico City
Watch On Your Schedule: GREAT PERFORMANCES: NOW HEAR THIS: "Barrios: Chopin of the Guitar" will be available to stream with the PBS app. Watch the best of PBS anytime, anywhere on the free PBS app. Stream your favorite PBS shows on-demand and livestream shows from your local station, all from your favorite device.
About NOW HEAR THIS Season 6: Scott Yoo, conductor and artistic director of the Mexico City Philharmonic, returns with the sixth season of the critically acclaimed series NOW HEAR THIS to examine the musical inspirations of Frédéric Chopin, Luigi Boccherini, Sergei Rachmaninoff and Agustín Barrios. All these composers are expats or exiles, their music shaped by nostalgia for a homeland they couldn’t return to, and new friendships, ideas and opportunities in new places. Their careers were marked by loss and longing, but ultimately renewal and redemption.
American conductor Scott Yoo is the Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Mexico City Philharmonic and the Music Director of Festival Mozaic. He is the Conductor of the Colorado College Music Festival, and the founder of the Medellín Festicámara, a chamber music program that brings together world-class artists with underprivileged young musicians. Yoo has led the Colorado, Dallas, Indianapolis, New World, San Francisco Symphony, Utah Symphony and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra in their Elliott Carter Festival and in his Carnegie Hall debut. He recently conducted the London Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra in recordings for Sony Classical.
Yoo has premiered 79 works by 41 composers. With the Metamorphosen Chamber Orchestra, Yoo recorded Mark O’Connor’s “American Seasons” for Sony Classical; John Harbison’s chamber orchestra works with soprano Dawn Upshaw for Bridge Records, was nominated for a National Public Radio Performance Today Award; recorded song cycles of Earl Kim with sopranos Benita Valente and Karol Bennett for New World and named a Critics Choice by the New York Times.
As a violinist, Yoo has appeared as soloist with the Boston Symphony, Dallas Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Colorado Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, New World Symphony and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s. He has also made guest appearances with chamber music festivals throughout the United States, including Bargemusic, Boston Chamber Music Society, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Kingston Chamber Music Festival, Laurel Music Festival, New Hampshire Music Festival and Seattle Chamber Music Festival.
