Berta Rojas

Berta Rojas
Background information
Birth name Berta Rojas
Born September 23, 1966
Asuncion, Paraguay
Genres Classical
Occupation(s) Musician, Professor
Instruments Guitar
Years active 1992–present
Associated acts Agustín Barrios, Paquito D'Rivera
Website Berta Rojas

Berta Rojas, (born September 23, 1966) is a Paraguayan classical guitarist. In 2012 she was nominated for Best Instrumental Album in the Latin Grammys for her album "Día y Medio (A Day and a Half)" which she recorded with Paquito D’Rivera.[1] For her album "Salsa Roja (Red Sauce)", She was nominated a the 2014 Latin Grammy Awards, in the category of Best Classical Album.[2]

Background and education

Known for her expressivity and innate musical talents, Berta Rojas was praised for having “introduced a new dimension in the emotional reaches of the instrument,” according to El Pais newspaper in 1991.[3] Since then she has gone on to build an international career and is currently recognized as one of the top guitarists of the modern era. She was lauded by the Washington Post as a “guitarist extraordinaire”[4] and by Classical Guitar Magazine as “ambassador of the classical guitar.”[5]

She began her first music lessons with guitarist Emiliano Aiub Riveros. She then studied guitar briefly with Carlos Vázquez, and later initiated her formal education in classical guitar at age 10 under the instruction of Felipe Sosa and Violeta de Mestral. While studying with Sosa and de Mestral, she obtained the title of Senior Professor of Classical Guitar. At the same time, she also studied piano with Rosa Mereles de López[6] and obtained the title of Senior Professor of Piano from Jorge Báez Conservatory.

Rojas moved to Uruguay in 1986 to continue her studies with Uruguayan professor Abel Carlevaro. There she enrolled in the Escuela Universitaria de Música (Universidad de la República), where she obtained a Bachelor’s of Music in Classical Guitar, studying under guitarist Eduardo Fernández and Mario Paysée.

In 1996, Rojas was named a Fellow of the Americas by the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for her artistic excellence.[7] This recognition helped her acquire the means to continue her formal education in the United States. That same year, she began graduate studies at the Peabody Institute. In 1997 she received a scholarship from the Organization of American States which financed her remaining studies. She received a Master of Music from Peabody Institute under the instruction of Manuel Barrueco.[8] She also studied with Ray Chester.[9]

In 2000, Rojas received her Graduate Performance Diploma, studying with Manuel Barrueco and Julian Gray.[10]

Music career

Berta Rojas has performed in top-notch venues around the world, including Weill Recital Hall in Carnegie Hall, the Frederick P. Rose Hall of Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York, the Southbank Centre in London, and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. She has performed at the National Concert Hall in Dublin as a soloist with the Irish Radio and Television Orchestra (RTO),[11] and on Belgian National Television with the Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra.[12] She was given the honor of opening for the Summit of the First Ladies of the Americas, where then First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton was in attendance. Rojas also serves as the Ambassador of Tourism of Paraguay, her home country.[13]

Since 2011, Rojas has toured through 20 countries in the Americas with Cuban saxophonist and 11-time Grammy award winner Paquito D’Rivera on the “In the Footsteps of Mangoré” tour.[14] Together, Rojas and D’Rivera recorded and released Día y Medio (A Day and a Half),[15] an album which earned a nomination for “Best Instrumental Album” in the 13th Latin Grammys in 2012. She has also frequently toured with Brazilian guitarist Carlos Barbosa-Lima.[16]

Berta Rojas maintains a prolific and critically acclaimed discography. Her 1998 album, Intimate Barrios, was included in Gramophone Magazine’s list of “the best recordings you can buy.” [17] Her 2006 release of Cielo Abierto was praised by Soundboard Magazine as “impeccable in every aspect of professionalism—heart-touching musical artistry, interesting repertoire and excellent technical production.”[18] 2009’s Terruño has received excellent reviews by critics internationally. Steve Marsh of Classical Guitar Magazine commended Terruño for exhibiting a “poetic exquisiteness which many another player rarely attains.”[19]

Activism promoting the development and appreciation of musical arts

Year Activity
1994 Artistic Director of the First Agustin Barrios International Guitar Competition and Festival, with the participation of John Williams, Graciela “Chelita” Pomponio, Richard Stover, Enrique Pinto, and Hopkinson Smith, among others (Paraguay) [20]
1999 Artistic Director of the City of Asuncion’s Music Competition (Paraguay)[21]
2002[22] y 2006[23] Artistic Director of the Cardozo Ocampo Competition (Paraguay)
2007, 2008 y 2009 Artistic Director of the John and Susie Beatty Music Scholarship Competition for Classical Guitar (Washington, DC, USA) [24]
2007, 2008,[25] 2009[26] y 2010[27] Artistic Director of the Iberoamerican Guitar Festival (Washington, DC, USA)
2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 Artistic Director of the Latin American Harp Festival (Washington, DC, USA)[28]
2009[29] y 2011 Founder and Director of the Barrios World Wide Web Competition[30]
2009,[31] 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 y 2014 Educational tour “Con Berta Rojas hoy toca Mangoré” Tour of Schools (Paraguay)[32]
2011,[33] 2012, 2013 y 2014 “In the Footsteps of Mangore” Tour (Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, Panama, Colombia, Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago, Honduras, Costa Rica, Brazil, Guatemala, Mexico, French Guiana, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Haiti, Martinique, Cuba and El Salvador)[34]

Discography

References

  1. ↑ "Berta Rojas, nominada al Grammy Latino". Diario ABC Color. September 25, 2012. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  2. ↑ "The Latin Recording Academy announced the nominees for the 2014...". The Hornet. September 24, 2014. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
  3. ↑ "La Música en 1990: Grandes Recitales". El País de Montevideo. January 12, 1991.
  4. ↑ "Berta Rojas. Guitarist Extraordinaire". The Washington Post. May 27, 1993.
  5. ↑ Panting, Tim. "Waltons Guitar Festival of Ireland". Classical Guitar Magazine (May 2007): 38.
  6. ↑ "Conservatorio "Jorge Báez Roa" inició sus actividades". Diario ABC Color. March 1, 2013. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  7. ↑ "Berta Rojas at The Kennedy Center". Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  8. ↑ "Manuel Barrueco at the Peabody Institute". http://www.peabody.jhu.edu''. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  9. ↑ "Ray Chester at the Peabody Institute". http://www.peabody.jhu.edu''. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  10. ↑ "Julian Gray". http://www.peabody.jhu.edu''. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  11. ↑ "Berta con sinfónica de Irlanda". Diario ABC Color. June 7, 2008. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  12. ↑ "Berta Rojas cosecha éxitos durante concierto en Bélgica". Diario La Nación. November 26, 2010.
  13. ↑ Sánchez V., Lilian (August 12, 2004). "Exponente de guitarra promocionará Paraguay". Diario Última Hora.
  14. ↑ "In the Footsteps of Mangoré". http://www.bertarojas.com/footsteps/''. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  15. ↑ "Berta Rojas y Paquito D´Rivera lanzan disco con música paraguaya". Diario Última Hora. May 12, 2012.
  16. ↑ "Concierto de Berta y Barbosa - Lima". Diario ABC Color. October 10, 2008. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  17. ↑ Rickards, Guy. "Our monthly guide to the best recordings you can buy". Gramophone Magazine (February, 2000).
  18. ↑ "Elogian el trabajo de Berta Rojas". Diario ABC Color. December 27, 2007. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  19. ↑ Marsh, Steve. "Reviews - Terruño". Classical Guitar Magazine (2009).
  20. ↑ "Lanzaron un concurso mundial de guitarra". Diario Última Hora. April 26, 1994.
  21. ↑ "Concurso musical del CPJ ofrece un concierto en Washington". Diario ABC Color. March 10, 1999.
  22. ↑ "Música erudita se renueva con los jóvenes". Diario ABC Color. December 28, 2002. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  23. ↑ "Concurso Cardozo Ocampo de guitarra y requinto". Diario ABC Color. May 5, 2006. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  24. ↑ "The Beatty Music Scholarship -Competition for Classical Guitar". http://www.beattymusiccompetition.org''. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  25. ↑ Soundboard Magazine (XXXV): 80 to 83. 2009. Missing or empty |title= (help);
  26. ↑ "FESTIVAL IBEROAMERICANO DE GUITARRA". Diario ABC Color. June 12, 2009. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  27. ↑ "Berta Rojas dirige festival de guitarra en Washington". Diario ABC Color. June 4, 2010. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  28. ↑ "Berta Rojas at Teatro de la Luna".
  29. ↑ "Innovadora competencia internacional de guitarra". Diario ABC Color. July 24, 2009. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  30. ↑ "Barrios World Wide Web Competition".
  31. ↑ "Berta Rojas inicia gira dirigida a los jóvenes". Diario ABC Color. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  32. ↑ "Gira "Con Berta Rojas hoy toca Mangoré"". Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  33. ↑ "Berta Rojas hará una gira por el camino de Mangoré". Diario ABC Color. June 24, 2011. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  34. ↑ "In the Footsteps of Mangoré".

Bibliography