The music of Juan Antonio Sánchez finds itself at the crossroads where the popular music of Chile, America and Spain converge and popular music encounters classical music. The delicate balance between technical development, multiple parameters and the general style of writing practised by the academy, with the vitality and proximity of popular music, is one of Sánchez’s greatest achievements.
His works, which must be interpreted with both precision and flexibility, also leaves room for improvisation, especially in the introductions, a context where performers can do their own thing and endow the music with individual taste and imagination. The finesse with which Juan Antonio Sánchez develops the instrument’s dynamic and tonal qualities, suggests a need for a very intimate atmosphere for its performance, such as when the guitar is played in a salon.
Nevertheless, the contemporaneity of the combined elements and the vitality of the rhythmic content allow this music to communicate equally well in the larger concert hall.