If you purchased tickets for the Angel Romero and Nina Kotova concert originally scheduled in Portland in May of 2020, this performance has been rescheduled as part of our 2022 season for the date and location below. We do not offer refunds but you may hold on to your tickets for the rescheduled performances or request a voucher for the value of your tickets that can be used for other concerts. To request a voucher in lieu of your tickets which can be used for other U.S. Classic Guitar events including the online series, please email us at info@usclassicguitar.org. Thank you for your patience and understanding.
Angel Romero with Nina Kotova Portland Concert – Friday, April 22, 2022 at 7 PM (First Congregational Church of Portland - 1126 SW Park Ave. Portland, OR 97205)
Angel Romero Master Class - Thursday, April 21 at 6:30 PM
Please Note: In order to attend a live U.S Classic Guitar event, you must either show proof of vaccination, show a negative COVID-19 test result taken within three days prior to the event, or show a positive test result for documentation of recovery from COVID-19 from no earlier than 90 days and no later than 10 days prior to the event. Season ticket holders who are fully vaccinated will only need to show proof of vaccination at the first event they attend. See More
Angel Romero Biography
Hailed for his superior artistry as the Spanish maestro of the guitar, Angel Romero’s eminence in the music world as soloist and conductor is heralded by audiences and critics alike. One of the most sought-after musicians of his generation, Angel Romero has appeared in the major cultural centers throughout the world including those of London, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, Madrid, Munich, Zurich, Chicago, Los Angles and New York among others. He has appeared as soloist with such leading orchestras as the New York Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic, the New World Symphony, and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. As conductor, he has led numerous orchestras worldwide including the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, the Royal Philharmonic, Germany’s NDR Symphony Orchestra and the Berlin Symphoniker, the Beijing Philharmonic, the Euro-Asia Philharmonic, the Shanghai Symphony, the Bogotá Philharmonic, the Chicago Sinfonietta, the Orquesta de Baja California, the Santa Barbara Symphony, the San Diego Symphony and the San Diego Chamber Orchestra among others. Regardless of his role on stage, his driving intensity and flawless control mark him as a true master of the arts.
Angel Romero’s extensive discography includes highly acclaimed recordings for Delos International, RCA Victor Red Seal and RCA Victor Worldwide, Telarc and Angel/EMI. In 2001, Delos released “Bella,” which includes monumental pieces such as Bach's Air on the G String to Romero's own father's Tango Angelita - a composition dedicated to his late mother. In 1999, “Romero Plays Rodrigo” was released featuring works written for and dedicated to Angel Romero through his long and close relationship with the Spanish composer. In 1998, he was featured as soloist and conductor in an acclaimed recording of Vivaldi’s guitar concertos with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. In 1995, RCA released a crossover recording of flamenco and pop music, featuring Angel Romero playing a diverse repertoire spanning works from Pachelbel to Bill Conti. This particular recording features Mr. Romero’s world-premiere transcriptions for one guitar.
In February 2000 he was presented with the highest honor that the country of Spain has to offer, the Grand Cross of Isabel la Catolica and was knighted Sir Angel Romero in reverence of his astounding musical accomplishments. In 2007, Angel Romero was honored by the Recording Academy, producer of the Grammy Awards, with the Recording Academy President’s Merit Award for his significant contributions to the music world and for his professional career achievements.
Angel Romero is noted for his activities in the film industry. In 1989, he performed the entire score for “The Milagro Bean Field War” directed by Robert Redford. In 1994, he composed and directed the musical score for the Gabriele Retes film “Bienvenido-Welcome,” which opened at the Muestra del Cine film festival in Guadalajara. For his work on this film, Mr. Romero won the 1995 ARIEL (the “Academy Award” of Mexico) in the category of music written originally for film. He also performed and recorded the entire score for the film “By The Sword” composed by Bill Conti, and played a cameo role in the major motion picture “Bound by Honor,” a Taylor Hackford film.
Born in Malaga, Spain, Angel Romero made his professional debut at the age of six and his United States debut at the Hollywood Bowl when he was 16 giving the West Coast premiere of the famed Rodrigo’s “Aranjuez Concerto.” This occasion also marked the first time a guitarist was featured as soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. In 1991, he gave the world premiere of Joaquin Rodrigo’s “Rincones de España” at New York’s Lincoln Center. Mr. Romero studied conducting privately with Eugene Ormandy, the legendary conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Angel Romero has played for numerous world leaders including his globally telecast 1992 appearance in the United Nations General Assembly Hall with the National Orchestra of Spain under the baton of Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos. The performance was by invitation of then Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali to promote world peace and to celebrate the 500th Anniversary of the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus.
The Russian-American cellist Nina Kotova, has been praised by Gramophone as a “strong and individual artist” and by the Los Angeles Times as “a talent to reckon with- poised, committed, graceful and spirited.”
Ms. Kotova has been internationally recognized as one of the outstanding instrumentalists of her generation. She has performed as a soloist with symphony orchestras across the globe and has repeatedly toured the UK, Europe, Asia and the US.
Ms. Kotova has performed on Red Square in Moscow, for the Imperial family of Japan and at Buckingham Palace. She has appeared in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, at Town Hall and Carnegie Hall in New York, at Ravinia, Wigmore Hall, the Barbican Centre in London, Teatro La Fenice in Venice, the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing, , the Esplanade in Singapore, the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and the Berlin Philharmonic to name a few.
According to Newsweek magazine, “she‘s a fantastically gifted cellist.. and has a powerful stage presence.” Time magazine states: “She is a musician of high seriousness and real talent”. Ms. Kotova has also been the subject of numerous features in Vogue, Elle, Harper’s Bazaar and the Wall Street Journal, The Sunday Telegraph Magazine, Hello magazine and has appeared on television on A&E’s “Breakfast with the Arts”, “Hard Talk” and the “Charlie Rose Show”. Ms. Kotova has appeared on the covers of Classic FM, Gramophone China, Il Venerdi Italia and Reader’s Digest.
Ms. Kotova has collaborated with musicians such as violinists Joshua Bell, Sarah Chang, Maxim Vengerov and Nikolaj Znaider, guitarist Sir Angel Romero, flutist Sir James Galway and pianists Jose Feghali, Helene Grimaud, Lang Lang and Jean-Yves Thibaudet. Ms. Kotova has performed with conductors including Teodor Currentzis, Stephane Deneve, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Vladimir Jurowski, Claus Peter Flor, Alain Lombard, Nicola Luisotti, Sir Antonio Pappano, Libor Pesek, Tamas Vasary, Hans Vonk and Jaap Van Zweden.
Among Ms. Kotova’s honors is the Tuscan – American Association award for her outstanding cultural contributions as a co-founder of the Tuscan Sun Festival. Ms. Kotova also co-founded the Festival Del Sole/Festival Napa Valley in Napa Valley. She calls the Festivals “a mecca and meeting place for artists and admirers of the arts alike”.
Nina Kotova’s recordings include her chart-topping debut album for Philips Classics, the Bloch “Shelomo” with the Philharmonia of Russia conducted by Constantine Orbelian along with her own Cello Concerto for Delos, the Dvorak Cello Concerto with the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Andrew Litton for Sony Classics, the Deutsche Grammophon compilation “Masters of the Bow”, which pays homage to the greatest cellists of the last 50 years, and the complete Bach Suites for Unaccompanied Cello for Warner Classics. This past spring, Ms. Kotova released her latest CD: the Rachmaninoff and Profkofiev Cello Sonatas with pianist Fabio Bidini for Warner Classics.
A champion of contemporary music, Ms. Kotova has commissioned and premiered works of leading composers including Christopher Theofanidis, Dmitry Smirnov, Michael Nyman, and Sir Anthony Hopkins. She recently premiered Jonathan Leshnoff’s Cello Concerto with the Philadelphia Chamber Orchestra.
A versatile collaborator, Ms. Kotova has performed the Vivaldi double concerto with Bobby McFerrin, appeared on the MTV Music Awards at the MET with Trent Reznor, appeared in Matthew Barney’s Cremaster, performed with Sting and Trudy Styler in the production “Twin Spirits” celebrating the life of Robert Schumann, performed Saint-Saens “The Swan” with Nina Ananiashvili, Irina Dvorovenko, Lil Buck and the soloists of the Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo. Nina has appeared with John Malkovich in Iglesias’ “A Registered Patent” and collaborated with Jeremy Irons in Chopin: Seduction, Smoke and Music.
As a composer Nina Kotova has written numerous works for cello and orchestra. Her first Cello Concerto premiered in San Francisco in 2000. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that “like Wolfgang Rihm in 1974, so Kotova in 2000 stands in defiance of both the emotional austerity of last century’s modernism and the new simplicity of so much recent music.” Ms. Kotova was commissioned to write a Triple Concerto by the University of Texas and toured her Cello Concerto “The Tuscan” for cello and chamber orchestra with Dmitry Sitkovetsky conducting across the US featuring its NY premiere at Carnegie Hall.
Russian-born cellist Nina Kotova began cello studies at six. She studied at the Moscow Conservatory and graduated from the Musikhochschule in Cologne. She gave her first performance as a soloist with orchestra at age 11 in Russia. At sixteen, Ms. Kotova made her Western debut in Prague with the Prague Radio Orchestra after winning the 1st Prize at the “Concertino Prague“ competition in 1986. She has carried on the tradition of not only her legendary father, Russian double-bassist Ivan Kotov, but her teachers and mentors, which include Igor Gavrysh, Valentin Feigin and Boris Pergamenschikov, Ms. Kotova has also taught as an Artist in Residence at the University of Texas in Austin.
The highlights of this season include a recital with Helene Grimaud, a concerto tour collaboration with John Malkovich, a concerto and recital tour in Korea and the upcoming releases of her Tchaikovsky recording with Vladimir Fedoseyev and the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra, and her Romantic Recital album for Warner Classics.