• Paul Chihara
  • Concerto for Guitar (1975)

  • G Schirmer Inc (World)
  • 1101/0100/str
  • Guitar
  • 16 min

Programme Note

Composer Note:

The Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra with Trumpet Obbligato was written for Pepe Romero and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra in 1975. Maestro Neville Marriner was the orchestra’s first music director, and he chose me to be his first composer-in-residence. Over the years, we have maintained the warmest artistic friendship. The concerto also reflects my friendship with the great Spanish guitarist Pepe Romero, and our mutual fascination for scary movies with their haunting stories and images of tragic, beautiful women. The concerto evokes the mysterious films from Japan from that period: especially Kuroneko (Black Cat) and Onibaba (Demon Woman.)

—Paul Chihara