Artist description Classical Guitarist

Music Style Classical, Romantic Classical, Spanish Classical

Musical Influences Celedonio Romero, Angel Romero, Pepe Romero, Celin Romero, John Williams, Sabicas, Nino Ricardo, Vladimir Horowitz, Niccolo Paganini, W. A. Mozart, Jascha Heifetz, Franz Liszt, Ludwig van Beethoven

Similar Artists Pepe Romero, Angel Romero, John Williams, David Russell, Manuel Barrueco

Artist History Robert Wetzel, a native of the Netherlands, began playing the guitar at age eleven. Serious classical guitar studies were initiated at age fifteen with Darryl Saffer at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.He earned a B. A. degree in musical performance from the University of Texas at Dallas with pre-graduate studies with Robert Guthrie at Southern Methodist University.For many years, beginning in 1972, Robert was a private pupil of Angel Romero, Pepe Romero, and Celedonio Romero. With the Romeros he studied and explored many aspects of guitar technique in addition to graduate studies at San Diego State University where he studied under full scholarship and was the first guitarist to earn a Master of Music degree. Robert made his formal professional concert debut as a quartet member of the famous guitar virtuoso dynasty family, "Los Romeros", for a concert presented at the 1977 Napa Music Festival. Robert performed the guitar parts of Celedonio Romero who was vacationing in Spain during that time. Wetzel currently resides in San Diego, California where Robert is on the music faculty at San Diego State University. In addition to solo performing, he is also a member of the classical guitar duo known as the Odeum Guitar Duo with colleague guitarist, Fred Benedetti. The Odeum Guitar Duo records for SBE Records and they have released two CDs on SBE Records : "Concert Hall Classics" and "Forgotten Romance" . Their debut CD, "Concert Hall Classics", was honored by Acoustic Guitar Magazine as being one of the top ten independently produced guitar CDs of 2000!

Group Members Robert Wetzel

Instruments Performs on instruments constructed by Miguel Rodriguez, Cordoba, Espana ; and Simon Marty, Sydney, Australia.

Albums Concert Hall Classics by the Odeum Guitar Duo on SBE Records ( SBE 6198 ); Forgotten Romance by the Odeum Guitar Duo on SBE Records ( SBE 9200 )

Press Reviews Acoustic Guitar Magazine (June, 2000): " ...beautifully played...warm balanced sound " - Simone Solondz, Senior Editor. Fanfare Magazine (Nov/Dec, 2000) : " ...truly magical and telling...enchanting...delightful...realized the piece's inherent fire...instrumental skill...revealing realization...most satisfying...I hungrily await their next disc. " - William Zagorski, music critic. San Diego Union Tribune (Summer, 1998) : "...skill, refinement...unmistakable elan. " - Valerie Scher, music critic.

Location San Diego, CA - USA

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