{"id":4017,"date":"2016-04-19T16:26:49","date_gmt":"2016-04-19T23:26:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/?p=4017"},"modified":"2021-04-29T10:49:17","modified_gmt":"2021-04-29T17:49:17","slug":"55-years-after-the-debut-of-los-romeros-angel-romero-remains-a-vital-force-in-classical-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/55-years-after-the-debut-of-los-romeros-angel-romero-remains-a-vital-force-in-classical-music\/","title":{"rendered":"55 Years After the Debut of Los Romeros, Angel Romero Remains a Vital Force in Classical Music"},"content":{"rendered":"
From the Spring 2016 issue of Classical Guitar magazine.<\/em><\/a><\/h6>\n
BY MARK SMALL<\/b><\/span><\/h6>\n

\u201cI just turned 69 and I still feel like I\u2019m 18 years old,\u201d Angel Romero says, standing in the dining room of his home in the hills outside of San Diego, California. He flexes a bicep and tells me to squeeze his arm through the sleeve of his Tommy Bahama sweatshirt. \u201cI\u2019m exactly the same physically as I was back then. I can outrun anybody!\u201d he says with characteristic bravura.<\/p>\n

Romero may or may not be referring literally to a footrace, but for decades his musical virtuosity has placed him at the head of the pack among guitarists (although he credits his brother Pepe with running neck-and-neck with him). It\u2019s not just the speed and accuracy of Angel\u2019s muscular technique, but when added to the fiery and highly emotive components of his playing, it\u2019s hard to mistake his recordings for those of any other guitarist. Our freewheeling conversation runs from technique to guitar makers, stage fright, repertoire, and more, and is punctuated frequently by Romero\u2019s robust laugh. Age notwithstanding, the maestro is at the top of his form, enjoying a full schedule of appearances as a recitalist, orchestral soloist, conductor, and family man with wife Nefi and their 14-year-old daughter Bella.<\/p>\n

An old photograph on a wall in his home shows the Romero family\u2014his parents and three brothers\u2014outdoors in Santa Barbara, California, in the summer of 1957, shortly after they arrived from Spain. Angel is ten, dressed in shorts, clutching a fishing pole. He explains how the family got to the United States. \u201cAn American, Farrington Stoddard, who was a Merchant Ma-rine, visited Malaga [Spain] with his wife, Evelyn,\u201d Angel says. \u201cThey met my father and [brother] Celin and fell in love with Spanish culture. Celin started giving him guitar lessons.\u201d The Stoddards sponsored the Romeros to come to America, enabling them to escape from Spanish dictator Francisco Franco\u2019s fascism. A few years later, they formed their much-celebrated guitar quartet.<\/p>\n

When the ensemble began performing publicly in 1960 as Los Romeros Guitar Quartet, Angel was just 14, playing alongside his father Celedonio, and older brothers Pepe and Celin. He toured the world with the group for 30 years before turning his attention to a solo career. The quartet continues to perform with Pepe and Celin in the lineup, along with Celin\u2019s son Celino replacing the late family patriarch Celedonio, and Angel\u2019s son Lito replacing his dad. Angel blames external forces\u2014record labels and management\u2014with precipitating his departure from the group.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am on the EMI label and Pepe is with Phillips and we have different management,\u201d Angel says. \u201cThey started causing problems, each trying to protect their artists. Who is Pepe\u2019s biggest rival? Me. Who is my biggest rival? Pepe. But we couldn\u2019t be closer. We talk on the phone every night.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are pieces that I have recorded that he won\u2019t touch,\u201d Angel continues. \u201cAnd the Concierto Para Una Fiesta<\/em> that [Joaqu\u00edn] Rodrigo wrote for him is a piece I won\u2019t play because I\u2019m scared! I put on his recording and think, \u2018His version is so great, what am I going to do with this?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Hollywood Network<\/h3>\n

Living in Southern California presented unforeseen advantages for Angel Romero by fostering friendships with many of Hollywood\u2019s \u201cin crowd.\u201d The week before we met for our interview, he played at an event with the Beach Boys. \u201cCarl Wilson\u2014God rest his soul\u2014and I were buddies in high school,\u201d Romero says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe ate lunch together and would go bowling after school. Once he was in New York and heard me playing some Scarlatti. He said, \u2018That would sound great in a song!\u2019\u201d And thus, according to Romero, Scarlatti became the inspiration for the opening guitar figure in \u201cSloop John B,\u201d a hit from the Beach Boys\u2019 1966 album Pet Sounds<\/em>. \u201cI am like an honorary Beach Boy,\u201d Romero says. \u201cI\u2019m very good friends with Bruce Johnston, Mike Love, and the rest of them. I played \u2018Sloop John B\u2019 with them at a charity event last week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hollywood connections also led to soundtrack work and the composition of multiple concertos. An enduring friendship with actor Ricardo Montalb\u00e1n began in 1979 when Montalb\u00e1n was spokesman for a Chrysler car commercial and Romero was featured in the underscore playing the second movement of the Concierto de Aranjuez<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"Angel<\/p>\n

Through Montalb\u00e1n, Romero met Robert Redford and ultimately performed on Dave Grusin\u2019s soundtrack for Redford\u2019s 1988 film The Milagro Beanfield War<\/em>. Romero was later featured on movie scores by Bill Conti, and made a cameo appearance as a parole board member in Taylor Hackford\u2019s Blood In, Blood Out<\/em> (1993) in addition to playing on the score.<\/p>\n

It was through Montalb\u00e1n that Romero also met film composer Lalo Schifrin. \u201cHe called me a few days later to say that he wanted to write a concerto for me,\u201d Romero says. \u201cAfter it was finished, I premiered it and recorded it with the London Philharmonic [in 1991]. I lost contact with him for a while, but he resurfaced recently. He called and said that he felt inspired to write me a second concerto. I thought it was a great idea. He titled it Concierto de la Amistad (Concerto to the Friendship)<\/em>. It\u2019s a fantastic work. He finished it in just two months.\u201d<\/p>\n

Romero says a third Schifrin guitar concerto is also in the works: \u201cThis one will be for guitar and choir with four vocal soloists,\u201d he says. \u201cThe choir will make sound effects imitating percussion and other things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Philharmonic Ambassador<\/h3>\n

Playing orchestral works has long been an important component of Romero\u2019s career. He gave the American West Coast premiere of the Concierto de Aranjuez<\/em> in 1966 with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, led by the late Spanish conductor Rafael Br\u00fcbeck de Burgos. The anniversary of that event was commemorated in May 2015 when Gustavo Dudamel conducted the same piece with the same orchestra. The result was four sold-out concerts at LA\u2019s famed Walt Disney Concert Hall. The Aranjuez<\/em> has become Romero\u2019s signature piece, and it\u2019s one of many factors that endeared him to its composer Joaqu\u00edn Rodrigo.<\/p>\n

\u201cI own<\/em> that concerto,\u201d Romero quips. \u201cI can\u2019t remember if it was Julian Bream or John Williams who told me that other guitarists should get a visa from me to play it,\u201d he says with a belly laugh.<\/p>\n

\n