Ernesto Cordero

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

On This Day

Births

• 1710 - British composer Thomas Arne, in London (Gregorian date: March 23)

• 1837 - French composer and organist Alexandre (Felix) Guilmant, in Boulogne-sur-Mer

• 1921 - American composer Ralph Shapey, in Philadelphia

Deaths

• 1628 - English composer John Bull, 65 on March 12-13, 1628, in Antwerp

• 1832 - Danish composer of German birth Friedrich (Daniel Rudolf) Kuhlau, 45, in Copenhagen

• 1937 - French composer and organist Charles Marie Widor, 93, in Paris

• 1955 - American bebop composer and jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker, 34, in New York City

Premieres

• 1726 - Handel: opera Scipione in London at the King’s Theater in the Haymarket (Gregorian date: March 23)

• 1857 - Verdi: opera Simon Boccanegra (first version), in Venice at the Teatro La Fenice

• 1898 - Kalinnikov: Symphony No. 2, in Kiev (Julian date: Feb. 28)

• 1934 - Hindemith: Mathis der Maler Symphony, by the Berlin Philharmonic, with Wilhelm Fürtwängler conducting

• 1943 - Copland: Fanfare for the Common Man, by Cincinnati Symphony, Eugene Goosens conducting

• 1964 - Britten: Symphony for Cello and Orchestra, in Moscow with the Moscow Philharmonic conducted by the composer, with Mstislav Rostropovich the soloist

• 1965 - Lutoslawski: String Quartet, in Stockholm (Sweden), by the LaSalle Quartet

• 1998 - Magnus Lindberg: Fresco for orchestra, by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Esa-Pekka Salonen, conducting

Others

• 1909 - American premiere of Bruckner: Symphony No. 8, by the Boston Symphony, Max Fiedler conducting (no relation to Arthur Fiedler!)

• 1945 - The Vienna Opera House is damaged by Allied bombs. In the immediate post-war period, performances continued at the Theatre an der Wien and the Vienna Volksoper. The gala reopening of the rebuilt Vienna State Opera occurred on November 5, 1955, when Karl Böhm conducted a performance of Beethoven'‘s Fidelio.