Synopsis

The University of Puerto Rico is the main public university system in the island commonwealth, with 11 campuses, over 4000 faculty members, and some 40,000 students. In 2003, to celebrate the centennial of its founding on March 12, 1903, the University commissioned a new work for guitar and orchestra, to be premiered by virtuoso Pepe Romero and the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra.

The composer was Ernesto Cordero, an accomplished guitarist, whose Carnegie Hall debut as both performer and composer was praised by The New York Times, who described his technique as “impeccable” and his compositions as “a healthy combination of skill, sensitive invention, and sound musical effect.”

Cordero was born in New York City in 1940, but studied at the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico and the Madrid Royal Conservatory in Spain, followed by study with the Italian composer Roberto Caggiano in Rome and with the Cuban composer Julian Orbón in New York.

Cordero’s 2003 Concierto Festivo was his fourth guitar concerto, and was dedicated to Pepe Romero, who declared the new work “brilliant,” and described it as “wonderful bridal feast where the extraordinary knowledge of the guitar and the divine inspiration of the singular composer Ernesto Cordero wed.”

Music Played in Today's Program

Ernesto Cordero (b. 1946); Concierto Festivo; Pete Romero, guitar; I Solisti di Zagreb; Naxos 8572707