Piano
One of Mexico’s most talented and distinctive pianists, recognised for her varied and eclectic repertoire ranging across all styles and periods. Patricia Romero was born in Mexico City. She studied at the Conservatorio Nacional de Música in Mexico with Pablo Castellanos (who studied with Alfred Cortot and Edwin Fischer), Carlos Barajas and Jorge Suárez.
At 11 years of age, she won first prize in a television competition for talented children called “Estrellitas Infantiles” performing the Beethoven Sonata Op. 49 No. 2. She gave her first full recital two years later at the “Sala Chopin” in Mexico City.
At the conservatoire she obtained her licentiate and performing diplomas and in 1972, she was awarded the Munguía Foundation scholarship to study at Trinity College of Music in London. She also obtained a scholarship from the Mexican government in the following year and in 1975 a British Council scholarship to extend her studies for a fourth year at the College.
At Trinity College she studied with Joseph Weingarten. While at the College she won several prizes, including the Herbert Shead prize for the best performance of a Sonata by Chopin or Liszt, and the Maud Seton Prize for outstanding performance in her final recital. She graduated with Honours and subsequently made her London debut at the Wigmore Hall in a recital that was well received by the critics. She also took master classes with Bernard Flavigny, Jorg Demus, Angélica Morales and John Lill. In 1983 she attended the Prussia Cove Master classes with Louis Kentner and Sandor Vegh.
After college, Patricia studied for several years with the eminent pianist and teacher Louis Kentner and took part in several international competitions, winning some awards including the first prize in the Yamaha International Piano Competition in Mexico City, and the Clara Haskill prize for her Schumann interpretation in Switzerland.
Since then she has pursued a busy international career, performing an extensive repertoire stretching from Bach to the Twentieth Century including music from Spain and Latin America. She has performed widely in the British Isles, and her foreign travels have taken her to many parts of Europe, including France, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Italy, Greece and Turkey.
In 1993 Patricia performed the complete Chopin Etudes Op. 10 for the Chopin Society in London and in 1994 enjoyed a notable triumph in the performing of the complete solo piano works of Ravel in two recitals at the Purcell Room in the South Bank.
She has also played many times at St. John’s Smith Square, the Fairfield Halls, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, St James’s Piccadilly, Leighton House, Canning House and the Bolívar Hall. Further afield, in 1988 Patricia toured Australia and New Zealand, following this later in the year with a tour of Scandinavia and Russia. In early 1999 she performed in Argentina and Brazil, followed by the Middle East in the autumn. In 2006 she toured Berlin, Prague, Budapest and Vienna. In 2011 she played at the Royal Opera House with David Hanesworth and Odinn Baldvinsson. And in the same year she took part in the first Latin American Piano Festival at the Bolivar Hall in London.
In addition to her solo concerts she has given lecture recitals and also many chamber music concerts with a variety of performers including Rasma Lielmane, Nagi el Habashy, Beatríz Figares, David Jimenéz, Luis Humberto Ramos, David Hanesworth, Brian Meddemmen and in the last few years with Odinn Baldvinsson in the “Cantilena” duo.
Her appearances with orchestras have included performances with the Filarmónica del Bajío, Orquesta Sinfónica de la Escuela Nacional de Música, Jupiter Chamber Orchestra, Dartford Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta de la Universidad de Guadalajara, Orquesta Sinfónica de Coyoacán and the Hatfield Philharmonic under the batons of Luis Ximénez Caballero, Ivo Valenti, Denis East, Graham Nash, Orn Oskarsson, Miguel Bernal Matus and Howard Burrell.
From 1993 to 2003 Patricia gave solo recitals on board the Luxury Cruise Liners Island, Pacific, Sky and Royal Princess Cruises and the P&O Oriana and Arcadia. Patricia has broadcast on the BBC. She has recorded two CDs for flute and piano with Odinn Baldvinsson released by Divine Art in 2009 and 2015; “Cantilena II” in particular received excellent reviews.
In 2017 Patricia formed a Duo with violinist David Hanesworth and they have performed many of the major works of the violin and piano repertoire. In 2022 they played all the Sonatas of Brahms in a series of recitals in Redhill, and they have just repeated this series at St Mary Le Strand in London.
In August 2023 Patricia was invited to give Master Classes and a lecture at the Piano Summer Festival at St John’s College School in Cambridge.
Patricia is a member of EPTA and ISM and she is the piano organiser for the Coulsdon and Purley Festival.
