Aldemaro Romero
Encyclopedia
Aldemaro Romero was a Venezuela
n pianist, composer, arranger and orchestral conductor. He was born in Valencia, Carabobo State.
Romero was a prolific composer, creating a wide range of music, such as Caribbean, Jazz, Venezuelan waltz
es, including works for orchestra, orchestra and soloist, orchestra and choir, chamber music, up to symphonic works of great dimensions. He began his musical studies with his father, Rafael Romero. In 1941 he moved to Caracas
and worked as pianist in nocturnal saloons and dance orchestras. In 1949 he toured in Cuba, and then went to New York. In 1952 he returned to Caracas and established his own dance orchestra. In 1951 Romero signed contract with RCA Victor to record with a full orchestra, what was to be a very successful album in the "Dinner In..." series, featuring popular Latin American music. Under the RCA label he published his LP
Dinner in Caracas
, with which beat all sales records in South America until then. Afterwards, recorded numerous LP albums in different countries. In America, his ability as arranger/conductor led him to collaborate with popular orchestras and singers, such as Dean Martin
, Jerry Lee Lewis
, Stan Kenton
, Machito
and Tito Puente
, among others. He also toured extensively, performing in numerous countries: Mexico
, Puerto Rico
, Colombia
, Peru
, Brazil
, Argentina
, Spain
, France
, Greece
, Switzerland
, Sweden
, Italy
, Russia
, Egypt
and Japan
.
Romero was the creator of a new form of Venezuelan music, known as "New Wave" (Onda Nueva), derived from the joropo
and influenced by Brazilian Bossa Nova
. He also had an important role in the field of learned music. In 1979 Romero founded the Caracas Philharmonic Orchestra, of which he was the first Conductor. He also conducted the London Symphony Orchestra
, the English Chamber Orchestra
, the Orchestra of the Romanian Radio/TV and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. He was the father of Aldemaro Romero, Jr., who is a renowned biologist in the United States and a leader in Cave fish and Marine Mammal research and Ruby Romero de Issaev, producer and marketing director for Arts Ballet Theatre of Florida in Miami. Aldemaro Romero had three granddaughters and one grandson, Patricia Laine Romero, Jessica Romero Mayayo, Andrea Romero Mayayo y Ruben Laine Romero.
epic film. He also obtained the first prize as composer and conductor at Majorca Palms Festival, the Olympic Games Musical Festival in Greece; and in the Latin Song Festival of Mexico. For his extensive work, he received numerous recognitions in his country, being awarded with the Andrés Bello
, Diego de Losada
, Francisco de Miranda
and the Work Merit orders, all in their first class, granted by the Venezuelan Government to political, artistic and social outstanding individuals. Then, in 2000 he obtained the National Music Prize, and in 2006 honoris causa degrees from the University of Carabobo
and Lisandro Alvarado University of Barquisimeto
.
Aldemaro Romero died in Caracas
on September 15, 2007, at the age of 79.
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
n pianist, composer, arranger and orchestral conductor. He was born in Valencia, Carabobo State.
Biography
Venezuelan waltz
- History :Between the hall dances that arrived to Venezuela during the 19th century, waltz has been the one of greater root and dispersion. Waltz consists of a musical expression derived from an Austrian popular dance, the ländler...
es, including works for orchestra, orchestra and soloist, orchestra and choir, chamber music, up to symphonic works of great dimensions. He began his musical studies with his father, Rafael Romero. In 1941 he moved to Caracas
Caracas
Caracas , officially Santiago de León de Caracas, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela; natives or residents are known as Caraquenians in English . It is located in the northern part of the country, following the contours of the narrow Caracas Valley on the Venezuelan coastal mountain range...
and worked as pianist in nocturnal saloons and dance orchestras. In 1949 he toured in Cuba, and then went to New York. In 1952 he returned to Caracas and established his own dance orchestra. In 1951 Romero signed contract with RCA Victor to record with a full orchestra, what was to be a very successful album in the "Dinner In..." series, featuring popular Latin American music. Under the RCA label he published his LP
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
Dinner in Caracas
Dinner in Caracas
Dinner in Caracas is the name of a 33-RPM LP album by Venezuelan composer/arranger/conductor Aldemaro Romero, released in 1955, under contract with RCA Victor....
, with which beat all sales records in South America until then. Afterwards, recorded numerous LP albums in different countries. In America, his ability as arranger/conductor led him to collaborate with popular orchestras and singers, such as Dean Martin
Dean Martin
Dean Martin was an American singer, film actor, television star and comedian. Martin's hit singles included "Memories Are Made of This", "That's Amore", "Everybody Loves Somebody", "You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You", "Sway", "Volare" and "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?"...
, Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis is an American rock and roll and country music singer-songwriter and pianist. An early pioneer of rock and roll music, Lewis's career faltered after he married his young cousin, and he afterwards made a career extension to country and western music. He is known by the nickname 'The...
, Stan Kenton
Stan Kenton
Stanley Newcomb "Stan" Kenton was a pianist, composer, and arranger who led a highly innovative, influential, and often controversial American jazz orchestra. In later years he was widely active as an educator....
, Machito
Machito
Machito , born as Francisco Raúl Gutiérrez Grillo, was an influential Latin jazz musician who helped refine Afro-Cuban jazz and create both Cubop and salsa music...
and Tito Puente
Tito Puente
Tito Puente, , born Ernesto Antonio Puente, was a Latin jazz and Salsa musician. The son of native Puerto Ricans Ernest and Ercilia Puente, of Spanish Harlem in New York City, Puente is often credited as "El Rey de los Timbales" and "The King of Latin Music"...
, among others. He also toured extensively, performing in numerous countries: Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
, Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
, Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
.
Romero was the creator of a new form of Venezuelan music, known as "New Wave" (Onda Nueva), derived from the joropo
Joropo
The Joropo is a musical style resembling the waltz, and an accompanying dance, having African and European influences originated in Venezuela and performed in Colombia and Venezuela. It's a fundamental genre belonging to its typical music or música criolla...
and influenced by Brazilian Bossa Nova
Bossa Nova
Bossa Nova may refer to:*Bossa nova, a style of music*Bossa Nova , a dance form associated with the music*Bossa Nova , a 2000 film*Bossa Nova - album by John Pizzarelli...
. He also had an important role in the field of learned music. In 1979 Romero founded the Caracas Philharmonic Orchestra, of which he was the first Conductor. He also conducted the London Symphony Orchestra
London Symphony Orchestra
The London Symphony Orchestra is a major orchestra of the United Kingdom, as well as one of the best-known orchestras in the world. Since 1982, the LSO has been based in London's Barbican Centre.-History:...
, the English Chamber Orchestra
English Chamber Orchestra
The English Chamber Orchestra is a British chamber orchestra based in London. The full orchestra regularly plays concerts at Cadogan Hall, and the ECO Ensemble performs at Wigmore Hall...
, the Orchestra of the Romanian Radio/TV and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. He was the father of Aldemaro Romero, Jr., who is a renowned biologist in the United States and a leader in Cave fish and Marine Mammal research and Ruby Romero de Issaev, producer and marketing director for Arts Ballet Theatre of Florida in Miami. Aldemaro Romero had three granddaughters and one grandson, Patricia Laine Romero, Jessica Romero Mayayo, Andrea Romero Mayayo y Ruben Laine Romero.
Awards
In 1969 Romero received the Peace Prize of the Soviet Intellectuals, in the Moscow Cinema Festival for his soundtrack music for the Simón BolivarSimón Bolívar
Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios Ponte y Yeiter, commonly known as Simón Bolívar was a Venezuelan military and political leader...
epic film. He also obtained the first prize as composer and conductor at Majorca Palms Festival, the Olympic Games Musical Festival in Greece; and in the Latin Song Festival of Mexico. For his extensive work, he received numerous recognitions in his country, being awarded with the Andrés Bello
Andrés Bello
Andrés de Jesús María y José Bello López was a Venezuelan humanist, poet, lawmaker, philosopher, educator and philologist, whose political and literary works constitute an important part of Spanish American culture...
, Diego de Losada
Diego de Losada
Diego de Losada was a Spanish conquistador and the founder of Santiago de León de Caracas, the current capital of Venezuela.Losada was born in Rionegro del Puente, in what is now the province of Zamora. He reached Puerto Rico in 1533....
, Francisco de Miranda
Francisco de Miranda
Sebastián Francisco de Miranda Ravelo y Rodríguez de Espinoza , commonly known as Francisco de Miranda , was a Venezuelan revolutionary...
and the Work Merit orders, all in their first class, granted by the Venezuelan Government to political, artistic and social outstanding individuals. Then, in 2000 he obtained the National Music Prize, and in 2006 honoris causa degrees from the University of Carabobo
University of Carabobo
The University of Carabobo is an autonomous, public university of Venezuela located in Valencia, Venezuela. It offers graduate and postgraduate studies in different areas...
and Lisandro Alvarado University of Barquisimeto
Barquisimeto
Barquisimeto is the capital city of the State of Lara located in west central Venezuela, halfway between Caracas and Maracaibo on the Turbio River.-Overview:...
.
Aldemaro Romero died in Caracas
Caracas
Caracas , officially Santiago de León de Caracas, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela; natives or residents are known as Caraquenians in English . It is located in the northern part of the country, following the contours of the narrow Caracas Valley on the Venezuelan coastal mountain range...
on September 15, 2007, at the age of 79.