Romeros kick off Elgin Symphony's 60th anniversary season

The Romeros, a world-renowned guitar quartet, will take center stage at Hemmens Theatre this weekend when the Elgin Symphony Orchestra opens its 60th anniversary season.

The concerts are at 1:30 and 8 p.m. today, 8 p.m. Saturday and 3:30 p.m. Sunday.

"I don't think there's been any instrumental artist whom I have performed with more than Pepe Romero," said ESO music director Robert Hanson. "This will be the fifth time he'll be with us, either as soloist or with the quartet."

Pepe Romero, the late Celedonio Romero's second of three sons, leads the current quartet. Pepe performed as a soloist with the ESO three times prior to the Romeros' 2004 performance as a group with the orchestra.

Celedonio Romero, a student of the legendary Andres Segovia, founded the original quartet in 1960 with his sons Angel, Pepe and Celin, popularly known as "The Royal Family of the Guitar." With the introduction of Celin's son, Celino, into the quartet in 1990, and Angel's son Lito later joining the group, today's Romeros Quartet carries on a legacy of three generations of artists.

Angel is no longer a part of the group, having gone on to a solo career as well as conducting, Hanson said.

The Romeros' major work this weekend is the Spanish composer Joaquin Rodrigo's "Concierto andaluz," which was written for the original Romeros quartet.

"We did that piece the last time there were here five years ago," Hanson said, adding that the group also will likely perform a solo encore.

Hanson will also conduct Gioachino Rossini's famous "William Tell" Overture and Ottorino Respighi's colorful symphonic poem, "The Pines of Rome."

This weekend's concerts are the first of the ESO's eight Classics Series programs, running through mid-June. The next Classics Series concerts are Nov. 7-8.

Hanson said the November concerts will have a special meaning for him "because we're doing a commissioned premiere, 'Letters from Lincoln,' by Michael Daugherty, which will feature baritone Robert Orth, one of my dearest friends and compatriot performers."

He said Orth and he started their careers together in Mundelein and started the orchestra together there in 1974.

"He was picked up by (founder) Alan Stone at Chicago Opera Theater and has since gone on to a phenomenal career, taking him all over the world," Hanson said.

The ESO's November concerts also will include Franz Schubert's "Unfinished" Symphony and Franz Liszt's "Mazeppa" and "Hungarian March."

This season's guest conductors for the Classics Series are Tania Miller (Jan. 8-10, 2010); Jeanette Sorrell (March 5-7) and Jaime Laredo (March 26-28). Hanson will conduct the concerts of Jan. 29-31, April 30-May 2 and June 11-13.

Musical highlights include:

• Brahms' Symphony No. 3 and Shostakovich's Symphony No. 9 on Jan. 9-10

• An all-Russian program including Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4 on Jan. 29-31

• A Baroque-period concert with the St. Charles Singers performing Antonio Vivaldi's "Gloria" on March 5-7

• ESO concertmaster Isabella Lippi performing Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante, with Hanson also conducting Beethoven's Symphony No. 7, on March 27-28

• A special program called "Exiles in Hollywood, including music by émigré composers Miklos Rozsa, Franz Waxman and Erich Wolfgang Korngold, on April 30-May 2

• And the season-ending "Symphonie Fantastique" by Hector Berlioz on June 11-13. That concert also will feature pianist Stewart Goodyear as soloist for Liszt's "Totentanz" ("Dance of Death").

The Pops Series concerts are:

• "The Music of Henry Mancini" (with guest conductor Michael Berkowitz), Oct. 17-18

• "Benny Goodman's 100th Birthday Tribute" (with clarinetist and conductor Carl Topilow), Nov. 20-22

• "Stay Tuned" with the vocal quintet Five By Design, Feb. 20-21

• And "ESO Goes to Hollywood," April 17-18.

This season's Friday evening Schaumburg Series at the Prairie Center for the Arts has concerts on Oct. 16, Jan. 8, March 26 and April 16. The Schaumburg Series concerts on Nov. 20 and Feb. 19 are at the Hemmens Theatre, but are being offered along with the four Prairie Center dates as a six-concert package for Schaumburg Series subscribers.

This season's Hemmens Theatre matinee concert dates are 1:30 p.m. today, Nov. 20, Jan. 29, March 5, April 30 and June 11. The ESO's Christmas concerts, titled "Home for the Holidays," return to the Hemmens after several years at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates. The dates are Dec. 12 (3:30 and 8 p.m.) and Dec. 13 (3:30 p.m.).

Various subscription packages, along with and single-concert tickets (starting at $15) are available by calling the box office at (847) 888-4000, or in person at 20 DuPage Court, Elgin, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. You can also buy tickets at elginsymphony.org.