Over the centuries, the guitar has frequently been used on the Italian stage: in the commedia dell'arte, in Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia and later in various Italian films.

Guitar duo Izhar Elias and Fernando Cordas, specializing in the early Romantic repertoire, perform the finest pages of Italian stage and film history. They juxtapose an operatic overture by Spontini with well-known melodies by Morricone and Rota. In addition, they put Scarlatti versus the film composer Castelnuovo-Tedesco, who fled to America. As usual in Elias and Cordas' programs, there are various kinds of guitars on stage and the duo strings the pieces together verbally.