The Royal Family of the Guitar Returns to Portland March 10
William Jenks and Portland Classic Guitar, in cooperation with Portland’5 Centers for the Arts, are proud to present Los Romeros, in concert at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, in downtown Portland. The performance will be on Friday, March 10, at 7:30 p.m. A master class will follow on Saturday, March 11, at 11 a.m. at Marylhurst University’s Wiegand Hall.
Over half a century after Celedonio Romero invented the classical guitar quartet, Los Romeros—currently featuring Celin Romero, Pepe Romero, Angel Romero, Lito Romero, and Celino Romero—remain an institution in the world of classical music, dazzling audiences and critics everywhere. Indeed, they are rightly known as “the Royal Family of the Guitar.” To have so many virtuosi of the same instrument in one family is unique in the world of musical performance—but in the realm of the classical guitar it is absolutely without precedent, allowing for an uncanny musical telepathy onstage.
There are few conductors, ensembles, or composers who wouldn’t jump at the chance to work with this incredible group. Los Romeros has enjoyed repeat engagements with some of the best symphony orchestras in the world, and has also appeared frequently at such venerable venues as the Hollywood Bowl, Wolf Trap, Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium, the Cloisters in Fort Tryon Park, the 92nd Street Y, Vienna’s Gesangsverein and Konzerthaus, the Berlin Philharmonie, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Madrid Auditorio Nacional de Musica, and the Beijing Concert Hall. They are particularly popular with college audiences, and have performed on multiple occasions at the White House. In 1983, they appeared at the Vatican in a special concert for John Paul II, and in 1986, they gave a command performance for his Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales. In 2000, His Royal Majesty King Juan Carlos I of Spain knighted Celin, Pepe, and Angel into the Order of “Isabel la Católica.”
Given their long history, Los Romeros have built an enviable discography. In February 2007, they were granted the Recording Academy’s President’s Merit Award from the GRAMMYs, in honor of their artistic achievements. Television fans have seen and heard the group on such shows as The Tonight Show and The Today Show, PBS's Evening at the Boston Pops, the KPBS/PBS biographical documentary Los Romeros: The Royal Family of the Guitar, and other PBS specials.
Perhaps Los Romeros’ most lasting legacy is the creation of an entirely new repertoire for guitar quartet, both as a chamber ensemble and as concerto soloists. For fifty-five years, the group has inspired distinguished composers—including Joaquín Rodrigo, Federico Moreno Torroba, Morton Gould, Francisco de Madina, and Lorenzo Palomo—to write new works and re-arrange existing ones. As Rodrigo has said, “the Romeros have developed the technique of the guitar by making what is difficult to be easy. They are, without a doubt, the grand masters of the guitar.”
Tickets can be purchased at the Portland’5 box office, at their web site (www.portland5.com), by phone (800.273.1530), or at TicketsWest outlets. Arlene Schnitzer Hall is located at 1037 SW Broadway, Portland OR 97205. Wiegand Hall is located at Marylhurst University: 17600 Pacific Highway, Marylhurst, OR (97036).