Pepe Romero (Interview episode #3)
Hosted by
(ig and youtube)
@guitar arrangers
@The Music Thief
@Donitalia
Guest
@Pepe Romero
Special thanks to Matt Denman and Bryan Hays for making this interview possible.
https://www.romero-institute.com/
https://peperomero.com/
Pepe Romero Biography
There are very few true living legends in the world of classical music, few who have sustained greatness and grown throughout their lives. Pepe Romero is such an artist. He has been honored by kings, heads of state, and major institutions-the encomiums continue to pour in. But to Romero, his most important contribution has been reaching the common man. He has communicated the richness and beauty of the classical guitar to millions of people throughout the world. He has, indeed, become an ambassador of classical music, and, correspondingly, of the classical guitar.
But this gift did not just appear out of nowhere. Pepe is the second son of one of the greatest guitarists that ever lived—Celedonio Romero. And he is brother to two more musical phenoms—Celin and Angel Romero.
Pepe Romero has premiered works by some of the finest composers of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Joaquín Rodrigo, Federico Moreno Torroba, Lorenzo Palomo, Padre Francisco de Madina, Paul Chihara, Enrique Diemecke, Ernesto Cordero, and, most poignantly, Celedonio Romero, have written compositions for Pepe. Always a champion of music by composers in earlier periods of music history, he has also delved into rare archives to re-explore lost pieces by Fernando Sor, (world premiere and recording of Fantasie in d minor), Mauro Giuliani (world premiere recordings of Concerto no.2 in A major and Concerto no.3 in F major and Variations and Polonaise, Op.65), Francesco Molino (world premier recording of Guitar Concerto in E minor, Op.56), Ferdinando Carulli (world premiere recording of Guitar Concerto in E minor, Op.140), Johann Kaspar Mertz, Luigi Boccherini, (world premiere recording of all 8 guitar quintets) and others.
Maestro Romero's many accomplishments include: world premieres of Rodrigo´s Concierto andaluz (with the Romero Guitar Quartet), Concierto madrigal (with Angel Romero), and Concierto para una fiesta (written for Pepe Romero); Federico Moreno Torroba's Diálogos entre guitarra y orquesta (Pepe was personally chosen by Torroba and Andrés Segovia for the world recording premiere of this work dedicated to Segovia with an extended guitar cadenza written especially for Pepe), Concierto Ibérico by Torroba (written for and performed by the Romeros), Concierto en flamenco by Torroba was premiered in Málaga (performed by Pepe with Angel Romero conducting); and Lorenzo Palomo's Concierto de Cienfuegos (with the Romero Quartet) and Nocturnos de Andalucía (both released on the Naxos label). Of the many guitar concertos by his father, Celedonio Romero, Pepe has performed the world premieres of Concierto de Málaga, Fiesta Andaluza and El Cortijo de Don Sancho. Other premieres include Troubadour Music for four guitars and orchestra by Morton Gould, Concierto vasco and Concierto flamenco by Francisco de Madina, Concierto festivo by Ernesto Cordero, Christmas Suite for four guitars and chamber orchestra by Massimo Paris, Concierto a Celedonio by Enrique Diemecke, Concierto Mariachi by Michael Zearott and the guitar concerto, Zareh, by Loris Tjeknavorian. He also revived the great orchestral work Metamorfosi de concert by Xavier Montsalvatge, with Gianandrea Noseda, and premiered as well as recorded the Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra with Trumpet Obbligato by Paul Chihara, with Neville Marriner and the London Symphony. In April 2014 Pepe Romero performed the German premiere in the Berlin Philharmonic of a new work by Lorenzo Palomo – Fulgores - for violin, guitar and orchestra.
Pepe Romero has always felt, along with his father and brothers, that the sharing of one's art is a personal responsibility. Mr. Romero has served as Professor of Guitar at the University of Southern California, University of California at San Diego, Southern Methodist University, and the University of San Diego. Every summer at the Celedonio Romero Guitar Institute, currently held at Oklahoma City University, the Romeros conduct an intensive guitar workshop including master classes, private lessons, student concerts and a final concert featuring the students performing with the Romeros. Pepe has conducted master classes at the Salzburg Summer Academy, Córdoba Guitar Festival, and the Schleswig-Holstein Festival. In 2004 he was appointed Distinguished Artist in Residence at the University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music. His newly revised guitar method “La Guitarra” was published and released by Tuscany Publications in 2012. Currently he is finalizing a teaching video that discloses the principles of the Pepe Romero guitar technique.
