A Legacy of Her Own Classical guitarist Berta Rojas discusses a banner year of awards, honors, and the return of her irreplaceable stolen instrument.
By
Mark Small
May 30, 2023
Associate Professor Berta Rojas in the Berklee Performance Center.
Image by John Huet
Since completing her latest album in 2022, guitar professor Berta Rojas has experienced both career highs and uncertainty. Her album, Legado (meaning Legacy in Spanish), is a tribute to guitarists and composers Ida Presti (France, 1924-1967) and Maria Luisa Anido (Argentina, 1907-1996). The album's dozen tracks include works penned by or dedicated to Presti and Anido, both pathfinders for women in the classical guitar field.
Legado was a powerful way for me to share the story of women who-in spite of difficulties they confronted in their day-went ahead with what they felt called to do and had fantastic careers, says Rojas. I wondered why these and other women of the guitar were not more revered and wanted to start a conversation about them.
Rojas did indeed begin the conversation by making an album that ultimately netted two Latin Grammy Awards. (Notably, fellow Berklee professor Randy Roos served as the album's recording engineer.) Legado was named Best Classical Album for 2022 and Chacarera, a movement from the suite Anido's Portrait, which Rojas commissioned from Sergio Assad, won the award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition.
The guitar is my instrument and there is nothing I do with it that is not deeply felt.
- Berta Rojas
The Latin Grammy Awards ceremony in November was a triumph for Rojas, ending a year that earlier looked a bit bleak after her irreplaceable Michael O'Leary guitar, valued at around $20,000, was stolen from a car prior to her April 2022 concert in Cleveland, Ohio. The night before flying to Cleveland, Rojas had felt impressed to record the final track of Legado in her home studio despite fatigue after teaching all day. After the guitar was taken, Rojas felt at least some consolation knowing all tracks on the album featured the same instrument. But losing her constant musical companion of more than 14 years was devastating. Rojas had publicly stated that if she got the guitar back, no questions would be asked, and after two agonizing months it was unexpectedly and fortuitously returned to her.
The Latin Grammy was a boost both career-wise and personally for Rojas. Feeling embraced by the academy and my colleagues who have sold millions of records, and their embrace of this story about these women, was very rewarding for me, she says.
Image by John Huet
Becoming the first person from her native Paraguay to earn a Latin Grammy was cause for celebration there. On March 17, when she returned home, Paraguay's minister of Foreign Affairs bestowed upon her the Gran Cruz, a high honor recognizing those who have made significant contributions to Paraguay's cultural heritage. She will return later this year for a series of concerts.
Rojas feels her life has been blessed in multiple ways, including the dialectic she enjoys with her students and faculty peers. I am living in really happy and creative times at Berklee, she shares. Teaching here since 2017 has given me a chance to learn about jazz, and crossing the paths of classical and jazz has brought a lot to my music. The guitar is my instrument and there is nothing I do with it that is not deeply felt. All this has happened as a result of my sincere love for music.
Image by John Huet
Related Categories
Berklee Today
Most Popular
Image by Libby Danforth
Viral TikTok Song If I Were a Fish Is a Joyous Call for Acceptance Berklee alum Corrine Savage, who performs as corook, wrote the song with their partner as a way to cope with feeling unaccepted by society for being different.
Latest
Berklee students perform at the Institute of Contemporary Art as part of the Summer in the City Concert Series
Image by Kelly Davidson
Berklee's Summer in the City Series Brings Free Concerts to Boston Area The free series will feature Berklee students, faculty, and alumni performing at beloved venues throughout the city and beyond.
Image courtesy of Miguel Zen n
Miguel Zen n Named the 2023 Ken Pullig Visiting Scholar in Jazz Studies The Guggenheim and MacArthur fellow will give master classes, lead an ensemble, and work with jazz composition students.
Associate Professor Berta Rojas in the Berklee Performance Center.
Image by John Huet
A Legacy of Her Own Classical guitarist Berta Rojas discusses a banner year of awards, honors, and the return of her irreplaceable stolen instrument.
Read All
Subscribe The latest sounds, stories, and ideas, sent to your inbox weekly.
Most recent headlines
24/12/2025
What is AI good for? Posted by MTI Film on December 24, 2025
What is AI good for?
What is AI good for?
It's been three years since ChatGPT first cap...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Back to All News
Love, Fights, and Everything in Between: Badly in Love' Returns for Season 2
Entertainment
24 December 2025
GlobalJapan
Link copied t...
24/12/2025
Scripps Research study links sleep variability with sleep apnea and hypertension How consumers' digital activity trackers could enable personalized health s...
23/12/2025
How guilas Cibae as Dominican Winter League Games Are Locally Produced for Glob...
23/12/2025
BitFire's Jim Akimchuk on Supplying Scalability and Customization in the Clo...
23/12/2025
CAMB.AI Enables European Athletics to Offer Multi-Language SupportPlan is to eventually offer translation into all languages spoken in EuropeBy Ken Kerschbaumer...
23/12/2025
Analysis: As sports media values trend negative, scarcity and quality are king By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Monday, December 22, 2025 - 14:08
Print ...
23/12/2025
ESPN, Disney, and NBA Return to the Animated Altcast Fray With Second Edition of...
23/12/2025
End the Year on a High Note and Donate to the Sports Broadcasting Fund Today! By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director
Tuesday, December 23, 2025 - 12:25 pm
...
23/12/2025
The year is winding down, the weather outside is frightful, and it's the perfect time to escape into a story that warms the heart. For listeners looking for...
23/12/2025
A Zeus motor is hot fire tested at L3Harris' Camden, Arkansas, solid rocket ...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Lightware will exhibit several major product innovations at ISE 2026, including the new USB-C BOOSTER-V1, Google Meet. integration for various Taurus UCX models...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Taking the Stage at Carnegie Hall-On a Global Scale Boston Conservatory Orchestra students reflect on their epic concert marking the 80th session of the UN Gene...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
Netflix's The Great Flood and Culinary Class Wars 2 Top Gl...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
Stranger Things By the Numbers: How the Global Phenomenon Shap...
23/12/2025
Experience the power of WO Automation for Radio's newest service, the System Effectiveness Review. Designed to help you achieve more, a System Effectiveness...
23/12/2025
23 Dec 2025
VEON's Beeline Kazakhstan and Rakuten Symphony Collaborate to A...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
How Steamy Can It Get? Single's Inferno' Season 5 Pre...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
33 Million Global Viewers on Netflix Watched Jake Paul vs. Ant...
23/12/2025
New technique lights up where drugs go in the body, cell by cell Scripps Research scientists developed a technique that maps drug binding in individual cells th...
22/12/2025
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Presidio's Neerav Shah on the Role of Its Captiva...
22/12/2025
Hitting the bullseye: Sky Sports readies itself for the biggest PDC World Darts ...
22/12/2025
Unique skillset: Bringing new directors to the world of darts at The Worlds with...
22/12/2025
Gravity Media prepares for a flight of fancy with the PDC World Darts Championsh...
22/12/2025
One hundred and eighty: Gravity Media on hitting the production bullseye at the ...
22/12/2025
The Famous Group's Jon Slusser on Fascinating Fans Through Immersive Content...
22/12/2025
ESPN's Meg Aronowitz on Continuing High-Quality Broadcasts of Collegiate Spo...
22/12/2025
ESPN Takes Data-Driven Storytelling to New Heights with MNF Playbook with Next ...
22/12/2025
For a decade, popular German podcast Fest & Flauschig has hosted an annual Chris...
22/12/2025
Paramount Scores Largest Share Increase Among Distributors as Paramount and CBS...
22/12/2025
New multi-year deal integrates Roku's data to fuel Nielsen's measurement suite
Roku gains access to Nielsen's streaming ratings, showing The Roku C...
22/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
22/12/2025
Berklee Wrapped 2025: Our Top News and Stories A look back at a year highlighted by faculty milestones, major film and television projects, Bob Dylan's ho...
22/12/2025
The works of Plato state that when humans have an experience, some level of change occurs in their brain, which is powered by memory - specifically long-term me...
22/12/2025
Partnership integrates complementary satellite data and AI analytics to enhance security, infrastructure, and environmental monitoring solutions for global cust...
22/12/2025
Workflows allow you to create a sequence of planned events which may be added to your template(s) or inserted directly into your sequential or background playli...
A Legacy of Her Own Classical guitarist Berta Rojas discusses a banner year of awards, honors, and the return of her irreplaceable stolen instrument.
