…his playing manifests a poetic self-realization that one almost never encounters in classical guitarists.

—San Francisco Chronicle

Eduardo Fernandez plays Concierto festivo By E.Cordero

Program

F. SOR: Fantasie No. 7, Opus 30
A. CARLEVARO: Preludios Americanos
G. MONTAÑA: Three Pieces
C. CHÁVEZ: Three pieces for guitar
J.K. MERTZ: Four pieces from Bardenklänge
E. DENISOV: Sonata

About This Performance

Since the New York Times praised his 1977 US debut saying, "Rarely has this reviewer heard a more impressive debut recital on any instrument", Eduardo Fernandez has been a North American favorite. This Uruguayan six-string virtuoso masterfully interprets music from Bach to contemporary with an avid interest in historical guitars and is an accomplished and award-winning composer.

Guitar series presented in association with OMNI Foundation for the Performing Arts.

Artist Biography

Born in 1952 in Uruguay, Eduardo Fernandez began his studies of guitar at age 7. His principal teachers were Abel Carlevaro, Guido Santórsola and Héctor Tosar. After being prized in several international competitions, the most notable being the 1972 Porto Alegre (Brazil) and 1975 Radio France (Paris) competitions, he won the first prize of the 1975 Andrés Segovia Competition in Mallorca (Spain). His New York début in 1977 won critical accolades, being described as “A top guitarist… Rarely has this reviewer heard a more impressive début recital on any instrument” (Donald Hanahan, The New York Times). Fernandez has returned to the U.S. every season since then, playing with prestigious orchestras as well as giving recitals.

His London début, in (Wigmore Hall, 1983), had also a great impact. He performed on numerous recordings (solos, and with the English Chamber Orchestras and the London Philharmonic), that cover a wide section of the repertoire, from Bach to the contemporary, which include many fist recordings (for instance, Berio’s Sequenza XI and Ginastera’s Sonata).

Fernandez has also played, with the same success, in practically all Western European countries, and in the Far East (Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Hong Kong and China), as well as in Latin America. He is recognized as one of the leading guitarists of today. Reviews emphasize his “total technique” and the “poetic self-realization” of his playing; they describe him as “a thoughtful and thought-provoking artist” or, as Soundboard said recently of his 1999 recital at the GFA annual event in Charleston, SC, simply “one of the greatest guitarists alive.”

He has a vivid interest in historical instruments, and he has recently started playing the repertoire of the 19th century on a period guitar. Fernandez is also known as an active and enthusiastic teacher, having taught several years at the University Conservatory in Montevideo, as well as being very much in demand for masterclasses all around the world. He has written a major book on guitar technique (Technik, Mechanik und Didaktik, published by Chanterelle Verlag, Heidelberg 2000) as well as several articles in leading guitar publications. An active composer, he was Secretary of the Uruguay branch of ISCM for two years. He is also a founder of Uruguay’s CIM/UNESCO section, and Artistic Coordinator of Montevideo's biannual International Guitar Festival since 1996.

Links/Downloads

*To view the program notes, you need Adobe Acrobat Reader (available as a free download from Adobe).