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Music

Guitarist goes the distance

Even at 60, logging lots of frequent flier miles can't stop Angel Romero.

By MARTY CLEAR
Published May 10, 2007

It's not easy being one of the world's most famous classical guitarists.

Saturday, Angel Romero performed in Hawaii; on Sunday, he was in California. Friday night he'll perform in Tampa with the Florida Orchestra. Nine hours later, he'll fly to Japan and go directly to a four-hour rehearsal.

But Angel Romero isn't complaining. Well, maybe he's complaining just a little about the grueling week that will take him from San Diego to Tampa to Osaka.

"Someone made a mistake with the schedule," he said. "The days got overlapped."

Romero takes it in stride. Globe-trotting has been a way of life for him and his famous family for many years.

Angel Romero, 60, was only 6 when he made his professional guitar debut in his native Spain. He spent many years performing with his father, Celedonio, and his brothers in the Romeros, the most respected classical guitar quartet ever.

He has made his home in the United States since he was 10 and considers himself thoroughly American – and also thoroughly Spanish.

"It's weird," he said in a phone interview from his Southern California home. "I have the good fortune to be a full Spaniard and a full American. It's like I am two different human beings. Neither of my personalities is diluted at all. When I go to Spain I am Spanish with every fiber of my being. And here I am 100 percent American in my cowboy hat and boots."

He left the Romeros in 1990, replaced by a nephew. Since then, he's kept busy as a soloist and conductor with orchestras around the world. He has even made a couple of forays into the film world. He performed the music for Robert Redford's The Milagro Beanfield War and the 1995 film Bienvenido-Welcome.

"I'd love to do more film work," he said. "But there just isn't time, between the conducting and the performing." The program for Romero's Tampa performance includes Ravel's Bolero, Bizet's Carmen Suite, a Vivaldi guitar concerto and several solo pieces. It's part of the Florida Orchestra's seasonlong Festival de Musica Latina. The festival started in October with a performance by the Romeros and winds up at the end of this month with concerts featuring tenor Daniel Rodriguez May 30 at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater and Jon Secada (May 31 at the Ford Amphitheatre in Tampa).

Marty Clear can be reached at mclear@tampabay.rr.com.

 
Angel Romero with the Florida Orchestra

7:30 p.m. Friday at Al Lopez Park in Tampa. Free. (813) 286-2403 or floridaorchestra.org.

[Last modified May 9, 2007, 19:20:46]