Petrit Çeku

István Römer, born in Zagreb, studied the guitar with Marga Bäuml-Klasinc at the Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Graz (graduated in 1984) and at the Zagreb Academy of Music, where he completed his studies in 1983, in the class of Darko Petrinjak.

The brilliant launch of his career was marked by numerous prizes at international competitions, including the first prizes that he won in the mid-1980's in Mettmann (Germany), at the "Andrés Segovia" Competition in Palma de Mallorca, and, a little bit later, in Viña del Mar in Chile. Subsequently, he performed intensively in Europe, Latin America and Asia as a soloist and in duets with cellist Valter Dešpalj and clarinetist Milko Pravdić.

He has also performed as a soloist with orchestras, such as the Zagreb Soloists, Zagreb Symphony Orchestra, Dubrovnik Festival Orchestra, Chile Symphony Orchestra, Macedonian Philharmonic Orchestra, Sarajevo Philharmonic Orchestra, Varaždin Chamber Orchestra and Zadar Chamber Orchestra. An important part of his extensive repertoire is made up of works by Croatian composers. A very special place in his repertoire is held by

the cycle of sonatas and partitas for solo violin by J. S. Bach (arranged for guitar by Valter Dešpalj). István Römer was the first musician in the world who presented the integral version of this cycle on the guitar. Two of Römer's recitals in Zagreb in 2001 and 2005 were included among five best concerts in Croatia in those years, in the newspapers "Vijenac" (2001) and "Vjesnik" (2005). As a soloist and chamber musician he has released eight CDs.

Since 1984 he teaches at the Music Academy in Zagreb and at the annual Guitar Summer School in Koper, Slovenia. He also led master classes in Greece, Serbia, Montenegro, Slovenia, Austria, Germany and Portugal.

István Römer (Zagreb 1962.) studirao je gitaru kod Marge Bäuml-Klasinc na Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst u Grazu (diplomirao 1984.) i na zagrebačkoj Muzičkoj akademiji, gdje je diplomirao 1983. u razredu Darka Petrinjaka. Usavršavao se na majstorskim tečajevima kod uglednih gitarista Alexandra Rodriguesa i Johna Williamsa. Römerova je karijera briljantno započela brojnim nagradama na međunarodnim natjecanjima od kojih valja izdvojiti prve nagrade koje je osvojio sredinom osamdesetih u Mettmannu (Njemačka) i na Segovijinom natjecanju u Palma de Mallorci, te, nešto poslije, u Viñi del Mar u Čileu.

Ostvario je mnogobrojne nastupe u Europi, Južnoj Americi i Aziji kao solist, u duu s violončelistom Valterom Dešpaljem i klarinetistom Milkom Pravdićem, te kao član Zagrebačkog gitarskog trija u kojem uz Darka Petrinjaka i Gorana Listeša nastupa od njegova osnutka 1984. godine. Nastupao je i kao solist uz orkestre kao što su Zagrebački solisti, Zagrebački simfoničari, Festivalski orkestar Dubrovnik, Simfonijski orkestar Čilea, Makedonska i Sarajevska filharmonija, Varaždinski i Zadarski komorni orkestar. Dva su Römerova solistička koncerta u Zagrebu 2001. i 2005. godine bila uvrštena u izbor pet najboljih koncerata u Hrvatskoj tih godina u novinama Vijenac (2001.) i Vjesnik (2005.) Njegova sklonost glazbi J. S. Bacha kulminirala je jedinstvenim pothvatom – integralnom izvedbom svih šest sonata i partita za violinu solo u obradi za gitaru Valtera Dešpalja.

Uz mnogobrojne snimke za razne radijske i televizijske programe Römer je snimio sedam komornih i dva solistička nosača zvuka.

Redoviti je profesor na Muzičkoj akademiji Sveučilišta u Zagrebu. Održao je mnogo majstorskih tečajeva u Portugalu, Njemačkoj, Austriji, Sloveniji, Srbiji, Crnoj Gori i Grčkoj.