Event Listing - Music

Sun Feb 14

Carmel Music Society presents

Gustavo Romero, piano

Tel. 831.625.9938
Website

Location	Date and Time
Sunset Center San Carlos Street & 9th Avenue Carmel-By-The-Sea, CA 93921 cross street: 9th Avenue district: Carmel-By-The-Sea	Sun Feb 14 (3pm)

Description

A program exclusively of music by Frédéric Chopin - born on February 22, 1810 (or March 1st). A parish church document found in 1892 gives his birth date as 22 February 1810, but he usually gave March 1 as his date of birth.

Mexican-American pianist Gustavo Romero has a stellar reputation for both the technical brilliance and interpretive depth of his playing, as well as his commitment to in-depth exploration of individual composers.

"Mr. Romero has great agility, adequate power and an unusually large repertory of colors and dynamic levels. More important, these virtues evoked a sense of the music at hand rather than mere piano technique."
- The New York Times

"It was impossible not to take note of Romero’s athletic approach to Haydn’s C Minor Sonata, Hob. xvi:20. Haydn’s spirited, galant phrases lept from the instrument, sporting widely-contrasting dynamic levels and a constantly varied palette of attacks and articulations."
- Kenneth Herman, sandiego.com

Romero made the piano alive: it sang beautifully, then whispered very softly or sometimes thundered tremendously...
- Die Burger, Cape Town South Africa

"Romero's playing combined a basic patience, the willingness to let the music come at its own pace, with a certain tautness of phrase that clarified rhythms, phrases and paragraphs. This was Chopin with backbone."
- The Orange County Register, California

"The playing is authoritative, incontrovertibly Beethovenian in recreating the composer's style, technically immaculate and compelling in the extreme. One came away convinced that these five sonatas...had been analyzed and probed thoroughly."
- Los Angeles Times

With fleet-fingered dexterity and a strong lyrical impulse, the pianist from Chula Vista adjusted his virtuosity to the musical requirements, no matter how unusual.
- San Diego Union-Tribune

"This pianist phenomenon radiates an aura of warmth and candor, which endears him to his audience almost before he touches a piano key. And once he begins to play, they are his forever."
- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Florida

"Romero is a Chopin natural, a serious young pianist with singing tone and bravura technique. The same strong fingers, outgoing dynamism and lyric melodic touch can serve Bach as well."
- Los Angeles Times

The playing is authoritative, incontrovertibly Beethovenian...
- Los Angeles Times

"...Friday evening Romero made the piano alive: it sang beautifully, then whispered very softly or sometimes thundered tremendously. His technical abilities are phenomenal, and his musicality ensures that his performances are sensitive and honest...His playing had an exquisite spontaneity and rhythmical pliancy which stressed the wide range of emotions...it is the music which moved and addressed one's heart and soul. Only great artists achieve that."
- Die Burger, Cape Town South Africa

"Young American pianist Gustavo Romero took the audience for a wild ride on Sunday with his performance of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concert No. 3 with the Honolulu Symphony... (the work) is a virtual obstacle course of technical challenges, none of which posed much of a problem for this brilliant artist. With just about every note played perfectly, the precision of his performance was impressive in itself, but it was the soul of the interpretation that brought the audience to its feet. Double octaves thundered off the strings, building a passion that contrasted with more understated sections. The strength of the bravura passages seemed impossible for someone of Romero's rather slight build, and one would be a fool to test his handshake."
- The Honolulu Advertiser, Hawaii

The precision of his performance was impressive in itself, but it was the soul of the interpretation that brought the audience to its feet...
- The Honolulu Advertiser, Hawaii

"His articulation must be heard to be believed, and it could only be achieved with the kind of unfettered facility which Romero enjoys." "The drama unfolding was mesmerizing, and I for one didn't want to miss anything." "He opened up Pandora's Box as the evening progressed, showing us, in Beethoven, the power and nobility of a work that most unthinking players see as only a display piece." "Most of all, he engaged his remarkable imagination to draw the audience into the work with him. The jaws of hell opened before us as did the sublime vision of eternity in which Liszt ultimately put his faith."
- The Dominion, Wellington, New Zealand

Program:

Prelude in C sharp minor, Op.45
Nocturne in B major, Op.62 (No.1)
Barcarolle in F sharp major, Op.60
Polonaise in F sharp minor, Op.44
Scherzo in B flat minor, Op.31
Ballade in A flat major, Op.47
Ballade in F major, Op.38
Ballade in F minor, Op.52
Ballade in G minor, Op.23

Following the program, champagne reception will be held in the lobby, to celebrate Chopin’s 200 birth anniversary and also Valentine's Day.