by Mike Telin
From the time that Cuban-born guitarist René Izquierdo heard his first live concert as a child, he knew that he wanted to make “connecting with people through music” his life’s work. On Saturday, January 28 at 7:30 pm at Plymouth Church in Shaker Hts., the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society International Series will present René Izquierdo in a program that highlights his Cuban and Spanish heritage. Tickets are available online.
Speaking by phone from his home in Milwaukee, he began by telling me about his inspiration for his program.
René Izquierdo: I am of Cuban origin but also second generation Spanish. I’ve been living in the United States for 27 years and I’m feeling like I am losing some of my roots. So this program is my attempt to go back and revisit them. The first part is all Cuban music and the second part is all Spanish.
On the Cuban side I have some more modern composers who are guitarists. Then some piano transcriptions from the 19th century — the Nationalistic period. But I did try to pick some lesser known Cuban repertoire. [Read more…]
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