Biography:Pepe Romero
Biography:
Celebrated worldwide for his thrilling interpretations and flawless technique, guitarist Pepe Romero is constantly in demand for his solo recitals and performances with orchestra. His contributions to the field of classical guitar have inspired a number of distinguished composers to write works.
Born on March 8, 1944, in Malaga, Spain, Pepe Romera is the second son of "The Royal Family of Guitar," the Romeros. He learned guitar from his father, the legendary Celedonio Romero, and his first professional appearance was in a shared concert with his father in Sevilla's Teatro Lope de Vega when Pepe was only seven years old.
Mr. Romero recorded on laser disc with Sir Neville Marriner and the
Academy of St.-Martin-in-the-Fields
Concierto de Aranjuez and selected solo works of Joaquin Rodrigo. He
is also a leading personality in the film documentary - Shadows and Light: Joaquin
Rodrigo at 90.
A recent solo album, Noches de Espana: Romantic Guitar Classics, spans over two centuries of Spanish compositions for the guitar. At age fifteen, Pepe Romero made his first recording, Flamenco Fenomeno!, for Contemporary Records. His passion for the traditional flamenco of his native Andalucia has never wavered, and one of his recent recordings features flamenco singer Chano Lobato and dancers Paco Romero and Maria Magdalena. His latest solo album, Opera Fantasy, features virtuoso showpieces for guitar based on opera’s most popular melodies, including highlights from Rigoletto, La Traviata, Il Trovatatare, Don Giovanni, Faust, and Rossiniana!.
His
discography presently contains more than fifty recordings for solo guitar, guitar with
orchestra, and chamber music for guitar, and includes twenty concertos with the Academy of
St. Martin-in-the-Fields conducted by Sir Neville Marriner and Iona Brown. In addition, he
has revived and premiered major works from the Classical and Early Romantic periods by
such composers as Fernando Sor, Mauro Giuliani, Francesco Molino, Fernando Carulli, Johann
Kaspar Mertz, Luigi Boccherini and others. Joaquin Rodrigo wrote his latest guitar
concerto, Concierto Para una Fiesta, for Pepe Romero in 1983; it was commissioned
by the McKay family of Ft. Worth, Texas, and recorded on the Philips label. Andres Segovia
and composer Federico Moreno Torroba chose Pepe Romero to record the world premiere of Dialogos
Entre Guitarra y Orquesta; it was originally written for Segovia.
Highlights of the past several seasons include two performances at the
prestigious Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena, California, and a world premiere of a work
by classical composer Fernando Sor (composed c. 1830 but never published) at Spivey Hall
in Atlanta, Georgia. Çhosen by Joaquin Rodrigo and the government of Spain to be one of
the major participants in the world-wide celebration of that composer's 90th birthday
year, Pepe Romero performed tributes with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra at Carnegie Hall,
at the Berlin Philharmonic, in the Musikverein in Vienna and at Moscow's Great Hall of the
Pillars. Other performances included appearances with orchestras across the county,
recital tours in Europe and Asia, several recitals with soprano Jessye
Norman, and a performance at
the Smithsonian Institute to open their exhibit, "The Seeds of Change."
Recent seasons have found Pepe Romero on a whirlwind schedule of engagements throughout the globe, including his acclaimed tours of Europe and Asia. He has performed concerts and recitals in the New York's Avery Fischer Hall, Alice Tully Hall and Carnegie Hall; Chicago's Orchestra Hall and Symphony Hall; Los Angeles' Hollywood Bowl and Ambassador Auditorium; Philadelphia's Academy of Music; San Francisco's Davies Hall; London's Wigmore Hall; Spain's Teatro Real and Palacio de la Musica; Germany's Herkulessaal, Liderhalle, Fespielhous and Musikhall; Amsterdam's Concertgebouw; Zurich's Tonhalle; and Vienna's Muisikverein.
As a soloist, Pepe Romero has appeared in the United States with the Philadelphia, Cleveland, Chicago, Houston, Pittsburgh, Boston, San Francisco and Dallas Symphony Orchestras, as well as the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestras and the Boston Pops Orchestra. Orchestras with whom he has appeared in Europe and Great Britain include the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, the Monte Carlo Philharmonic, the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, Philharmonic Hungarica, the Hungarian State Orchestra, the Spanish National Orchestra, the Spanish National Radio/Television Orchestra, L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the New Moscow Chamber Orchestra, the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, the American Sinfonietta and the Bournemouth Symphony.
Mr.
Romero has collaborated with may of the world's finest conductors, including Leonard
Slatkin, Sir Neville Marriner, Eugene Ormandy, Arthur Fiedler, Lawrence Foster, Jesus
Lopez-Cobos, Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos, Andre Kostelanetz, Michael Palmer, Morton Gould,
Miguel Gomez-Martinez and Enrique Jorda. He has been a special guest at the festivals of
Salzburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Menuhin, Osaka, Granada, Istanbul, Ravinia, Garden State,
Hollywood Bowl, Blossom, Wolf Trap, and Saratoga.
With his father and brothers, Pepe Romero helped establish The Romeros Quartet as the leading classical guitar ensemble in the world. As a member of The Romeros, he has been invited to play at the White House, has performed at the Vatican for Pope John Paul II, and has performed for His Royal Highness Charles, Prince of Wales.
Possessing a strong belief in helping future generations of guitarists, Pepe Romero is dedicated to passing along his knowledge of the instrument and has several students who are first-prize winners in international guitar competitions. He has been Professor of Guitar at the University of Southern California, the University of California at San Diego, Southern Methodist University and the University of San Diego. Recently, he has taught annual master classes in the Salzburg Summer Academy and at the Schleswig-Holstein Festival.
MP3 Files:
Original CD: A) Noches De Espana(Pepe Romero) Philips,1994
Original CD: B) Viva Guitar: Los Romeros (5CDs) CD-2,CD-3,CD-5,Philips
