The Romeros bring three generations of classical guitar to Santa Cruz

The classical guitar quartet, known among aficionados as “The Royal Family of the Guitar,” is literally the progeny of Spanish expatriate Celedonio Romero, who left his native country and Franco’s iron rule in the late 1950s. The founding members of the group, which formed in 1960, included the elder Romero and his sons Angel, Celine and Pepe. And though Celedonio passed away in 1996 and Angel left the group almost two decades ago, the family lineage has remained intact: Angel’s son has followed in Celedonio’s celebrated footsteps, and Celine’s son Celino has replaced Angel.

 It’s almost impossible to speak about the Romeros without discussing the family’s influential progenitor, and Pepe recalls his father and his legacy in the most sparkling superlatives. “My father was a great composer and also a great poet. He was the most phenomenal, incredible, beautiful player. He was in a way a magician,” he says. “My father’s legacy is a bond to the past and something that I must carry, and my brothers and children must always carry forward.”

Celedonio’s accomplishments should not be understated. King Juan Carlos I knighted Celedonio into the “Orden de Isabel la Católica,” Pope John Paul II honored him as a “Caballero del Santo Sepulcre” and Málaga, his native Spanish city, has even erected a museum and foundation in his name. There is little drop-off in notoriety among his descendents—if nothing else in 1981, the New York Times said of the foursome, “Collectively, they are the only classical guitar quartet of real stature in the world today; in fact, they virtually invented the format.”

The quartet doesn’t evince any pretense during performances, delivering with graceful humility and a touch of mild signature aplomb. Trained under Celedonio’s strict regimen (The Celedonio Romero Method for the classical guitar is used in graduate programs at conservatories worldwide) the young Romeros were enticed by pieces of music and rewarded for their mastery of compositions. In this way, their birthright talent is augmented with committed study. All of them began playing publicly at precocious ages.     

“I have been performing my whole life,” says Pepe. “Whenever my mother or father would have friends over I would perform for them. And playing for friends is exactly what I continue to do. The minute I walk onto the stage—and this is true for all of my family—we play for our friends. I don’t remember not performing, it is built into me. It is who I am.”

One must imagine that the quartet has little left to accomplish, but this mode of thought would be to miss the point entirely. The foremost element of the Romeros’ success has been allegiance to generational continuity and to that particular six-stringed   instrument. “Mastery is something you hold out in front of you as you are trying to reach a sort of divine power,” says Pepe. “I mean what is a master? They say that about my family.  We can play pretty much everything in the repertoire. Well, once you reach that stage, really you are playing always for the beauty of and the love of the music.”

When asked if the Romeros try their deft hand at any other instrument, he replies with a terse, “No, just the guitar.” It’s more than enough.

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