Tim Callobre
Reviews/Media
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Tim Callobre
Reviews/Media
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On May 27, 2009, the Pasadena Star News, San Gabriel Valley Tribune and Whittier
Daily News, local Southern California newspapers, each ran an article entitled "Facing the Music - 3 young guitarists
to take part in international competition." The article, which features Tim and two other competitors in either of the
Parkening Guitar Competitions, can be read online (without accompanying photos) at http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/rds_search/ci_12454915?IADID=Search-www.pasadenastarnews.com-www.pasadenastarnews.com.
____________________________________________________
On May 28, 2009, radio station KUSC aired a piece about the Los Angeles Philharmonic
Composer Fellowship Program and Symphony For Schools program on its show, "Arts Alive." The show contains interviews
with Steven Stucky, Tim and two other Composer Fellows and contains excerpts of the Fellows' compositions as played by the
LA Phil. To hear this radio show and portions of Tim's full-orchestra piece entitled "Constructure," please go to:
____________________________________________________
Tim's performance for Young Musicians Foundation's "Soundstage at the Geffen"
concert on July 23, 2007 was reviewed by Mr. Blackwell of "The Tolucan Times." He called the event "a most incredible
evening. . . it was truly a smash." After reviewing performances by Jack Sheldon and his band and Patti Austin, Mr.
Blackwell states, "then came the big surprise treat of the evening. It was a 14-year-old boy Tim Callobre who played
the guitar. He had the audience totally mesmerized. I, for one, have never heard anything like him. I
would certainly think of him as a classical concert guitarist. The audience went wild and gave him an incredible ovation."
To read the full review of the event, please go to http://tolucantimes.com/index.php?news=1729. This event was also reviewed by Marci Weiner of Movieweb. Of the "Soundstage at the Geffen" event, she writes: "Representing the new generation was 14-year-old guitarist and composer Tim Callobre, who won the hearts of the audience with a standing ovation." To read the full review, please go to http://www.movieweb.com/news/22/21622.php. ____________________________________________________
Tim's appearance at the Grammy Salute To Classical Music event on February 8,
2007 was reviewed by Laurel Fishman of GRAMMY.com. She writes that Celino Romero told "his own son, 'You just go with
your dream. You just keep practicing and practicing, and one day, it will happen.' That truth was borne out
by the afternoon's excellent live performances by gifted young string players. Thirteen-year-old guitarist Tim Callobre's
'Fuerza' was a captivating musical odyssey. After Callobre performed, [M.C. Robert Aubrey] Davis made it known that
the impeccably rendered piece was composed by Callobre, eliciting cheers from the audience." ____________________________________________________
Tim appeared in an article entitled "'I've got blisters on my fingers!' - Local
Guitarists vie for Parkening Young Guitarist awards" on May 26, 2006 in the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Pasadena
Star News and Whittier Daily News. The article, which was accompanied by two photographs of Tim along with two other
guitarists, discussed the upcoming Parkening International Guitar competitions. __________________________________________________
Tim appeared on the cover of the Spring-Summer 2006 issue of "Soundpost,"
the California ASTA and NSOA news magazine, along with the other California State ASTA winners for 2005. The magazine
also contains an article on the ASTA Showcase Recital at which Tim performed. ________________________________________________________
The Winter 2004 issue of USC Trojan Family Magazine contains an article that
describes some of Tim's master class experiences during the Celebration of Pepe Romero Guitar Festival. In the article,
Tim is described by writer Diane Krieger as a "prodigy" and "pint-sized pro." Please click on the "Trojan Family Magazine"
link below to read the article, which is under the heading "People Watch - Star of the Guitar." Do read it -- it's
really a beautifully written piece! _______________________________________________________
An article by Steve Roberts in the 2004 Spring/Summer Newsletter of the Sacramento
Guitar Society also describes some of Tim's master class experiences in being a part of the Pepe Romero Celebration
Guitar Festival at USC. Mr. Roberts calls Tim "gifted and amazing." Please click on the "Sacramento Guitar
Society Newsletter" link below to read the full text of the article, which is entitled "LA Celebration of Pepe Romero at USC." ________________________________________________
Tim's CD, "The Beginning," was reviewed by A-J Charron of guitarnoise.com on November
28, 2003. The review is copied below, or you can see the webpage review by clicking on the guitarnoise.com link below.
Tim Callobre: The Beginning By: A-J Charron Independent He's proficient on both guitar and piano. What we dream of playing, he can
play in his sleep. He has his own website, and now his debut album. The first in what will certainly be a long
list. Oh, and by the way, he's only 9! That's not a typo. Not 29, not 19, but 9 - nine - years old.
I've been trying to learn Isaac Albeniz' "Asturias" for a couple of years now
and thought I was getting good at it. After listening to this kid's version of it, I won't even attempt it again.
And the guitar is his second instrument; he's a pianist first.
This album contains 16 tracks. Six are played on the guitar and are covers
of Villa-Lobos, Tarrega, Granados, Albeniz and Wyatt, while the 10 others are on piano and are all compositions.
Does one sense genius? Obviously. Not only can he play, but he can
also feel his way through it. One doesn't get the impression that this is played by a child.
Tim, my hat's off to you. Ladies and gentlemen, get yours while it's hot,
believe me, this kid is the next Mozart. And good for us!
A-J Charron - November 28, 2003 __________________________________________________
Tim received notice in the August 21, 2003 edition of "The Honolulu Advertiser"
newspaper, Entertainment column, which stated: "Don Ho continues to support emerging talent, the latest being Los Angeles
classical prodigy Tim Callobre, 9 [sic], who plays a mean piano and guitar--plus sax and drums. The lad joined Ho at
the Sunset Strip Key Club and at the Coach House in Orange County." ______________________________________________
The August 15, 2003 edition of the "Hawaii Catholic Herald" contains an article describing
the July 25 fundraising dinner and concert in which Tim performed. The article included information about
each of the evening's three performers and a photo of Tim playing on the new Bosendorfer grand piano. ___________________________________________
Tim's CD, "The Beginning," was reviewed in the July/August 2003 edition of Minor
7th Webzine. The review is copied below, or check out Minor 7th using the link below. Tim Callobre - "The Beginning", 2003. In his first project to date, Tim Callobre brings his listeners an impressive
display of technical achievement and artistic focus, especially for an artist only nine years old. At the age of six this
musical prodigy started to play the piano and a year later was beginning to explore the tonal beauty of the classical guitar.
Here, Callobre starts off with a vibrant rendition of Choros No. 2 by the well-known Brazilian composer Hector Villa-Lobos.
This particular composer must be of some import to Callobre, for the his ability to make visible the more nuanced aspects
of Villa-Lobos's music is worth noting. As the album progresses, the young artist quickly turns to showcase his own prodigious
compositional skills on the piano, switching from piano to guitar and back again almost effortlessly. The style of music found
on "The Beginning" is tastefully limited to a more classical repertoire, though at times the young musician/composer likes
to rock-out on his electric guitar as well. The apex of the album comes when Callobre performs another one of Villa-Lobos's
more technically demanding pieces. It is clear that this very young musician is exceedingly talented, but his performance
of well-known pieces proves more effective for this listener than his neatly structured compositions. Bernard
Richter __________________________________________
On April 27, 2003 an article about Tim appeared in The Sunday Star, a section
of the Sunday edition of the Pasadena Star News newspaper. The text of the article appears below:
A Mind for Music Boy, 10 performs original compositions on debut CD
By Kevin Felt, Staff Writer
PASADENA: Music flows from Tim Callobre's fingers. Whether he's fluttering through an original composition on the piano or mastering
a syncopated Brazilian song on classical guitar, the 10-year old Pasadena resident is completely at ease. If not for the photograph on the cover of his debut CD recording, "The Beginning,"
it would be easy to mistake his performances for someone who had been playing for decades, not less than three years. Even more, when the fourth-grader from Mayfield Junior School isn't mustering
the dexterity to tackle works like "Asturias" by Isaac Albeniz, "Choros No. 1" by Heitor Villa Lobos or "Spanish Dance No.
5" by Enrique Granados, he performs his own piano compositions. Of the 16 songs he recorded for "The Beginning" in February, when he was still
9, 10 are his own compositions. Though his guitar teacher Marcel Wittfeld said there are a fair share of 'wunderkinds'
on piano or violin, he said Tim's skills, especially on a full-size guitar are "unprecedented," primarily "because of the
strength required." Wittfeld said of the "thousands" of students he's taught, he's never seen one
more talented than Tim. He predicts that in a few more years "he'll blow the rest of us out of the water." "It's creepy how good he is," Wittfeld said. "You show him something and he gets
it right away. He's the only reason I might believe in reincarnation because all this music is inside him already, even though
he's never been exposed to it. "It's always been kind of a riddle to me how he plays with so much soul and expression
even though he hasn't been exposed to all that much music. His parents don't even have a decent stereo." Though Tim's mother, Salina Chinn, said she doesn't have a musical bone in her
body, she encouraged him to take piano lessons at age 6. "She kinda forced me at first," Tim said. "But I like it now." He said he started to really enjoy playing when his teachers stopped trying to
get him to learn simplistic "Pooh Bear themes or Barney songs." "I finished with my old teacher playing 'Happy Birthday' on one hand," he said.
"When I changed teachers, it was more fun because they would actually let me learn harder songs that aren't so boring." The more he was challenged, the more Tim loved it. He picked up the acoustic guitar
at age 7, tried the electric guitar at 8, started on the saxophone at 9 and now, shortly after his 10th birthday, he's playing
the drums. Though he had written a simple song or two before last year, he started composing
his own songs on piano seriously last July. Most of the time, he said he just plays "random notes" until he finds something
he likes, then he writes it down and tries to create more. Of Tim's 10 compositions on his CD, two are for guitar, "Morning Serenade" and
"Alayna's Song," the rest are for piano. "It's easier to play piano because there are less things you can mess up," he
said. His favorite, he says is "The Dance of the Pillows," a melodic, swaying lullaby.
"I love music because it helps me to express myself," said Tim, who wants to be
a musician when he grows up. "There are so many tunes and sounds you can get from just these 12 notes." Wittfeld just hopes his young charge's enthusiasm continues. "My only concern is that, by the time Tim is 12, he'll be so good that he'll lose
interest," he said. Tim Callobre's CD is available at [the Pasadena Museum of History, 470 W. Walnut
Street] and at www.guitar9.com.
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