Guitarist Pepe Romero has been honoured by kings, heads of state, and major institutions, but his most important contribution has been to communicate the richness and beauty of the classical guitar to millions of people throughout the world. He has worked with almost every major conductor, and has to his credit more than sixty recordings, among which are twenty concerto recordings with the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields, with both Neville Marriner and Iona Brown. Pepe Romero has given premières of works by some of the finest composers of the 20th and 21st centuries, and Joaquín Rodrigo, Federico Moreno Torroba, Lorenzo Palomo, Padre Francisco de Madina, Paul Chihara, Enrique Diemecke, Ernesto Cordero, and, most poignantly, Celedonio Romero, have written compositions for him. Amid many honours and distinctions Pepe Romero holds an honorary doctorate in music from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and the University of Victoria, British Columbia. In June 1996 he received the Premio Andalucía de la Música, the highest recognition given by his native country for his contribution to the arts. In addition His Majesty King Juan Carlos I of Spain knighted Pepe Romero and his brothers into the Order of Isabel la Católica.

Classical guitarist Vicente Coves studied with the legendary Pepe Romero. Coves belongs to the Versus Ensemble, with which he recorded for Naxos Piazzolla’s Suite María de Buenos Aires (8.570523) and Lorenzo Palomo’s Sinfonía a Granada (8.570420), for soprano, guitar and orchestra, composed for Vicente Coves and María Bayo. In 2008 he was awarded the Rubinstein Medal by the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory.

www.vicente-coves.com

A regular collaborator with the Teatros del Canal in Madrid, Manuel Coves has conducted Rigoletto, Don Carlo, Otello, Carmen, La Bohème, Candide, Pepita Jiménez, El Caballero de la Triste Figura, The Threepenny Opera, Luisa Fernanda and Entre Sevilla y Triana, and worked with some of the major orchestras in Spain and all over Europe among others. Next season his engagements include the Teatro Real, Madrid, the Gran Teatre del Liceu, the Tonkünstler Orchestra at the Festspielhaus St. Pölten and the Teatro de la Zarzuela, and many more.

www.manuelcoves.com

Since its creation by Extremadura Council in 2000, the Extremadura Symphony Orchestra has been an instrument for the dissemination of musical culture in the Autonomous Community of Extremadura. The orchestra has collaborated with many distinguished conductors, and has performed in major concert halls in Madrid, Bilbao, Oviedo, and Granada.