We recently connected with Michele Romeo and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Michele, thanks for joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
I was very young when I told my parents that I wanted to pursue a music career. Since I was in middle school I didn’t have other options in mind. I started experiencing eye issues during my teenage years. Music definitely became one of the most important and significant things I could have in life because beyond being a great support during my tough moments, I never experienced trouble in learning guitar and studying music theory despite my disability!
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
My name is Michele Romeo and I’m 30 years old. I’m a guitarist, composer and audio engineer.
I have been playing guitar for 20 years and since the very beginning I knew that music would have become my profession.
I mainly studied with private instructors during my time in Italy and I recorded my first music album in one of my instructor’s recording studio.
I have been always open to study and play different music genres in order to be versatile and prepared for any kind of work opportunity I could get as a guitarist. This approach allowed me to perceive music with a wider perspective and that’s why, even in my first music album called Leaves, released in 2014, I put together a variety of different music styles such as jazz, rock and pop.
I went to Berklee College of Music in 2017 and I graduated in 2020 during the pandemic.
In the USA I discovered things that I couldn’t imagine I could access as a visually impaired musician such as music production softwares.
During my semesters I studied guitar performance, contemporary writing and production and music production and engineering. I learned to work with music industry standard softwares such as ProTools, Logic Pro and Sibelius.
After graduating, I have released several singles independently with my own label MRB Music. My last compositions are much more fusion oriented after my studies and discoveries I made when I was at Berklee College of Music. I feel I’m able to experiment with many more music colors comparing to my previous approach before attending the music school.
You can check my last composition ‘I Do Like You But’ available in every streaming platform!
Beyond working on my own compositions, in the past few years I have produced and mixed several EP albums and singles for other artists such as the talented Ukrainian singer song writer Valeriia Vovk, American singer song writer Valerie Giglio, American composer Jean Paul Canal and many others. I felt very elated when some of my projects as music producer have been even awarded!
I feel grateful that thanks to Berklee College of Music I could see my dreams come true. It was very challenging to find instructors in Italy that could train visually impaired people to work independently as music producers.
A few months ago I relocated to New York City where I currently perform with my own band and as a solo artist. I also teach music and I work as a mixing engineer for several artists as well.
You are more than welcome to keep following me through my Instagram channel ‘micheleromeomusic’ if you would like to know more about me and my music journey!
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
There are moments where I feel I cannot ask more for what I do and what I have!
Being able to make an income from my greatest passion it’s very satisfying. Sometimes it doesn’t even feel I’m working because I have a lot of fun!
It’s also great that through my music and my story many people feel inspired and motivated. It’s amazing that through my art I can simply convey positive emotions to my listeners!
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
I consider myself a very resilient person because despite my challenges I never gave up.
When I was becoming blind I felt that this new experience in some way could help me to improve some other aspects of my life and personality.
There are things that just happen and we can do absolutely nothing to avoid them. What I learned is that the only thing I can do is to observe and make the best with what life is giving me. I’m also working to develop more self compassion because I think that this is the way to go!
Even though I no longer have any light perception, I’m still able to orient myself towards the brightest lights. Our mind and our heart very often can be much more powerful than what we believe!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: micheleromeomusic
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michele-romeo0611
Image Credits
Lia Rivera Photographer