Oklahoma City University’s Wanda L. Bass School of Music will host the 10th annual Romero Guitar Institute for a week-long classical guitar program starting June 24, taught by the world-renowned quartet Los Romeros from Spain.
Known to millions as “The Royal Family of the Guitar,” the Romero quartet was founded in 1958 by Celedonio Romero, a composer, guitarist and poet, along with his three sons — Celin, Pepe and Angel. Celedonio Romero changed the method in which guitar is taught and became known world-wide as the “grand master of guitar.”
Students in the Romero Guitar Institute will have the opportunity to learn from the Romero family through private lessons, master classes and chamber coaching. On the last evening, selected students will perform with The Romeros during the final concert, which will be held at 7 p.m. July 3 in the music school’s Petree Recital Hall. There will also be solo student concerts at 7 p.m. July 1 and 2. All concerts are free to the public.
The institute still has sponsorship opportunities. For more information, contact Christi Jeffreys at 405-208-5436 or [email protected].
More about The Romeros
The quartet’s first tour of the U.S. included performances at Chicago Orchestra Hall, San Francisco War Memorial Opera House and Boston Symphony Hall, followed immediately with performances on the Ed Sullivan Show, at Carnegie Hall and at the Hollywood Bowl. They have also appeared with several major symphony orchestras around the world.
After a performance at the prestigious Gewandhaus in Leipzig, Germany, in 1996 the Leipzig Volkszeitung newspaper noted: “The Romeros: Guardians of the Holy Grail of the Classical Guitar. What the ‘Three Tenors’ are to the world of opera, The Romeros are to the classical guitar.” According to The New York Times: “Collectively, they are the only classical guitar quartet of real stature in the world today; in fact, they virtually invented the format.” In 2000, Juan Carlos I, king of Spain, knighted Romero and his brothers with the “Gran Cruz de la Orden de Isabel de la Cathólica,” which is the highest possible civilian honor given in Spain. In 2007, The Romeros were granted the Recording Academy’s President’s Merit Award from the GRAMMYs in honor of their artistic achievements.
