Gustavo Romero

Concert Pianist

"A Pianist of Genius..."
— The Washington Post

"The word 'Discovery' means different things to different people. To me, it means travel - into musical as well as geographical passages - all voyages with a keen desire to discover."

Discover

Biography

Concert 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.

For the past fifteen years, Mr. Romero has dedicated his focus toward preparing a series of concerts featuring music of one or two composers each year. So far, he has presented works of Chopin, Bach, Schumann, Schubert, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Haydn, Händel, Liszt, Debussy and Gershwin including complete piano sonata cycles of Beethoven and Mozart.

This year Mr. Romero will present works by Maurice Ravel and Sergei Rachmaninoff.

A native of San Diego with heritage in Guadalajara, Mexico, Mr. Romero discovered his love and gift for the piano at the age of five and gave his first public performances at the age of 10, when he also won his first piano competition. At 13, he performed with the New York Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta. Rudolf Serkin recognized his exceptional talent, and at the age of 14 he attended the Juilliard School.

Mr. Romero has won many prizes including first prize in the prestigious Clara Haskil International Piano Competition in Switzerland, The Avery Fisher Career Grant and The Musical America Young Artist Award.

He has performed with the world's leading orchestras including: The New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Atlanta Symphony, Houston Symphony, The Boston Pops Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Honolulu Symphony, New World Symphony, English Chamber Orchestra, Radio France Orchestra, Philharmonia Hungarica, New Japan Philharmonic, Shanghai Orchestra, Cape Town Philharmonic, Russian Symphony Orchestra, Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Liège Philharmonic, a concert internationally televised from the United Nations.

Applause

Critical Acclaim

"A pianist of genius"
The Washington Post

"Mr. Romero has great agility, adequate power and an unusually large repertory of colors and dynamic levels."
The New York Times

"The playing is authoritative, incontrovertibly Beethovenian in recreating the composer's style, technically immaculate and compelling."
Los Angeles Times

"Romero is a Chopin natural, a serious young pianist with singing tone."
Los Angeles Times

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

"With fleet-fingered dexterity and a strong lyrical impulse, the pianist from Chula Vista adjusted his virtuosity to the musical requirements."
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."
Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Florida

"Romero's playing combined a basic patience with a certain tautness of phrase that clarified rhythms, phrases and paragraphs."
The Orange County Register, California

"It was impossible not to take note of Romero's athletic approach to Haydn's C Minor Sonata."
Kenneth Herman, sandiego.com

"His Haydn Variations in F Minor, Hob. xvii:6, proved a model of fastidious architecture."
Kenneth Herman, sandiego.com

"A master of detail and an elegant sculptor of phrasing..."
Ken Herman, San Diego Story

"Like a kind of philosopher-poet, Romero kept turning the notes over, looking for and finding surprising layers of meaning."
Albuquerque Journal, New Mexico

"His articulation must be heard to be believed, and it could only be achieved with the kind of unfettered facility which Romero enjoys."
The Dominion, Wellington, New Zealand

"Young American pianist Gustavo Romero took the audience for a wild ride with his performance of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3."
The Honolulu Advertiser, Hawaii