Roland Dyens (19 October 1955 – 29 October 2016) was a French classical guitarist, composer, and arranger, born in Tunisia and based for most of his life in Paris. He studied with Spanish classical guitarist Alberto Ponce and with Désiré Dondeyne, and later succeeded Ponce in his teaching position at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris. Dyens was celebrated as a performer for his improvisational style, sometimes opening or even structuring entire concerts around unplanned material, and he moved fluidly between classical repertoire and jazz. He composed extensively for solo guitar and guitar ensemble and released numerous volumes of guitar arrangements spanning Fernando Sor, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Thelonious Monk, Edith Piaf, and Django Reinhardt. He died in Paris in 2016 at the age of 61.

Dyens is considered one of the greatest classical guitarists of his generation, prized as much for his compositions as for his boundary-crossing performing style, described by one journalist as combining “the hands of a classical musician” with “the mind of a jazz musician.” His Tango en Skaï (1985) is among the most widely performed solo pieces in the modern classical guitar repertoire.

Sources:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland_Dyens
• https://www.allmusic.com/artist/roland-dyens-mn0000085745/biography