Pepe Romero:

Pepe Romero (Málaga, 1944) is one of those personalities who have become legends while still alive. Honoured by kings, heads of state... and universities around the world, this universal Malaga native has taken classical guitar to the highest level throughout his life and is considered one of the most influential musicians and guitarists in the history of music. He regularly returns to his hometown. He loves to stroll down Calle Larios, greet his fellow citizens and sit by the sea with a sizeable cigar. He savours and slowly puffs on that cigar, just as he has done with an artistic career that is impossible to quantify, and that others would need several lifetimes just to dream of.

You have reached the pinnacle of classical music. After touring the world with the greatest orchestras for more than 70 years, how do you see Malaga when you return to it?

I see Malaga as the same in its essence, in its people and in its art and personality. But it has become a modern, well-kept city that offers so many diverse and good things that I hear it spoken of as a benchmark throughout the world.

What memories do you have of your childhood in Malaga with your father, mother and siblings?

All my training and the core of my whole life, which is the guitar, music, love of literature and the arts, family unity. An indescribable passion for the guitar shared with the whole family, born of the affection and love we had for each other. Dreaming of those years is remembering and bringing back my father and mother, grandparents and so many friends and family who are no longer with us, although I still have a large number of family members living in Malaga.

Tell me the two most important lessons your father, the great Celedonio Romero, taught you.

To have very clear ideas about what you want to achieve and not give up until you get it, even if it takes your whole life. And, while you work towards and pursue your goals, no matter how difficult it may be, enjoy it and be grateful. Also, to look for beauty in everyday life, which offers us so many wonderful things that go unnoticed.

You have achieved everything in classical music. Do you feel you still have something left to do?

To continue enjoying myself until my last moment, as my father did with his guitar. A few days before he passed away, he started a piece and, unable to continue, he gave me the guitar so that I could finish playing it. His last words were “the guitar”. Because the guitar has been an extension of each of us and also a way of communicating with each other through music. A way of giving love to each other and conveying it to the audience.

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Pepe Romero with maestro Joaquín Rodrigo.

This concert on the 30th is very special, as it will mark the debut in Malaga of the fourth generation of Romeros, the tenor Jacob Romero Kressin, who is already making a career for himself in German opera. We will also hear the famous Malaga Concerto composed by his father, and you usually play a guitar made by your son, Pepe Romero Jr., who even made the last instrument with which Paco de Lucia recorded his last album focused on copla. It will be an exciting night for you, won't it?

Yes, I will share with my grandson the same feelings my father had when we made our debut, or that I have had with my nephews or my daughter Angelina, who is a pianist. The world of opera has been very important in my musical development because, for me, the most difficult and beautiful thing about the guitar is singing with it. I have always been in love with opera. Listening to my grandson is going to move me so much that I am really looking forward to this concert. This festival has been glorious in terms of the quality of all the concerts. I have participated in hundreds of festivals around the world, and this festival stands out: it has been wonderful for its quality and diversity, and also for the response of the audience, which is not seen at other festivals. Ending with the concert that my father made with so much love for Malaga is, I think, the perfect finishing touch to an unforgettable festival. It is also a pleasure to share the stage with the Philharmonic, its principal conductor, the great Jose María Moreno, and the great singer Esperanza Fernandez.

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The Romero guitar quartet in 1958, compared to the line-up that celebrated the quartet's 60th anniversary in 2018.

They say that recognition should come during one's lifetime and artistic prime. The festival named after him, promoted by the European Guitar Foundation with the sponsorship of Malaga City Council and the Unicaja Foundation, is now in its fourth edition. How do you feel when you think about that 14-year-old teenager who left for America to seek a future in music with his family and see everything they achieved in fulfilling the American dream?

I see that it is possible to keep your roots alive. That strong bond you feel for the land where you were born and, at the same time, being able to open yourself up to experiencing the world in other cultures, immersing yourself in it and enjoying it. Sharing and bringing what you have from your homeland, in my case Malaga, Andalusia and Spain. Keeping it alive, remembering the Malaga I knew as a child and keeping it alive and strong, sharing it with other people, while enjoying what they have to offer. It is one of the things I am most grateful for in life, for that opportunity to open myself up to the world without ever forgetting that I am Andalusian and from Malaga. Joaquín Rodrigo said to me before the premiere of the ‘Concierto para una fiesta’ he wrote for me: ‘Never forget that you are Andalusian. Because no matter how much you have travelled around the world, the important thing is to know where you really come from and to respect it’.

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Concert at the White House for Jimmy Carter.

Rubinstein said that anyone who studies more than four hours a day has nothing to do in life and will have nothing to express in music. Do you continue to study to maintain your virtuosity or for another reason?

I continue to study to maintain my ability to express myself as I wish with the guitar. But mainly I study because I love to study. It is one of the things that gives me the most pleasure. I completely agree with Rubinstein, who was a great friend of mine. I would say that, in reality, I practise for three or four hours and then play for another three hours to enjoy it, not to study. Music and the guitar are not my job, they are my vocation. I often lose track of time because I am enjoying what I am doing so much.

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Pepe Romero during a recording with Neville Marriner and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields.

What advice would you give to guitarists who want to pursue a career as concert performers?

It's very difficult for me to give that advice because I never sought out a career. The career came to me. My advice is to play out of vocation but always be prepared for when the opportunity comes, so that you are ready. Work every day as if you were preparing for the most important concert, even if you have nothing on your schedule. Studying cannot extinguish the heart. You have to find that musician's heart and nurture it, whether you have concerts or not. If concerts come along, you will be ready. And if not, you will have had the great privilege of being able to nurture your soul and spirit with music. That is more important than giving a concert. A musician is someone who is able to pour their soul into every note to embrace others. If your ego and thoughts of wanting to show off your skills take over and you let them in, the musician dies.

Would you like to say something to the people of Malaga?

I want to thank them. It gives me great pleasure to be sitting among my people enjoying a festival that has been spectacular. I am very grateful to the people of Malaga who, since the first edition, have filled the concerts. I would like to highlight several people. My dear disciple and friend of many years, Vicente Coves Merino, who was the architect of this idea and who developed it with the European Guitar Foundation. He is doing so much good for Spanish music and guitar with this and other projects! To the Mayor, Mr. Francisco de la Torre, for his affection and support for this initiative. Also to Councillor Mariana Pineda and the rest of the Culture Department, with Susana Martín, Mercedes Fernández and Antonio Gª De Castro. I have nothing but words of emotion and gratitude. I have always carried Malaga in my heart and at the forefront of the thousands and thousands of concerts I have played. I have so much to thank this city and its citizens, whom I love so much!

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Pepe Romero, together with the Mayor of Malaga, Francisco de la Torre; the Councillor for Culture, Mariana Pineda; and Vicente Coves at the presentation of the second edition of the festival.

Leading figures in iconic settings

Pepe Romero (Malaga, 1944), son of Celedonio Romero and Angelita Gallego and brother of the great guitarists Celín and Ángel Romero, is one of the most important guitarists in history. His unrivalled musicality and technique inspired the great composers of the time, such as Joaquín Rodrigo, Federico Moreno-Torroba, Morton Gould and many others, to compose key works for the Spanish guitar. These compositions, his epic and countless recordings, and the more than 15,000 concerts he has given throughout his career, have led him to be considered one of the most important and influential musicians in the history of universal music, and one of the names that has most strongly and loudly represented Málaga throughout the world.

The Pepe Romero Guitar Festival Málaga is now firmly established in its fourth year as a leading musical event on the international calendar of guitar-related events, always enjoying huge success with audiences filling the venues to capacity. Once again, the programme features some of the most important figures in this instrument, performing in emblematic venues around the city, such as the Plaza de Armas at Gibralfaro Castle, the Cervantes Theatre and the Patio de Surtidores at the Alcazaba in Málaga.

The European Guitar Foundation, an organisation chaired by the internationally renowned concert guitarist and cultural manager Vicente Coves, with the support and sponsorship of Malaga City Council, the Unicaja Foundation and the Alhambra Guitarras Foundation, among other sponsors, organises this musical event, which this year is expanding its number of performances to a total of 16 concerts. The European Guitar Foundation is responsible for internationally successful guitar events such as the Granada International Guitar Festival, now in its ninth year, the Antonio Marin Guitar Building Competition, now in its eighth year, and the Joaquin Rodrigo Festival in Madrid, which will begin in October this year.

The fourth edition of the Pepe Romero Malaga International Guitar Festival will continue its programme this Thursday 25th with the Madrid Guitar Orchestra, which will offer a beautiful programme in which the guitar will reach its maximum beauty by combining the sound of each of them in a great guitar at the service of the music of composers such as Mozart, Handel and Sakamoto.

Guitarist Fernando Espí's brilliant career is based on an innate musical sensitivity combined with solid technical training. In his concert on Friday 26th at the festival, he will perform works by composers such as Rodrigo, Turina, Falla, Torroba and La Traviata.

On 27th September, we will experience a special evening. Segundo Falcón, known as “the Pavarotti of flamenco”; Manolo Franco, one of the most important guitarists of the last 50 years; Paco Jarana, one of the most important figures in flamenco for his wonderful playing and compositional mastery; and Luisa Palicio, one of today's most important dancers, will star in a show to remember, specially prepared for this edition of the IV Pepe Romero Guitar Festival Málaga.

Ozberk Miraç Sangül will close the section on young masters of Spanish guitar on Sunday 28 September, showcasing his virtuosity, sensitivity, verve and sweetness.

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Pepe Romero. Lucía Rivas/EGF

And the stellar closing act of the festival will, of course, be Pepe Romero, the living legend of the guitar who gives his name to the festival. On Tuesday 30th, he will star in a historic concert at the Teatro Cervantes, celebrating the centenary of “El Amor Brujo” alongside the singer Esperanza Fernández, the tenor Jakob Romero Kressin, and the Malaga Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by José María Moreno. A fitting finale for a memorable edition.