May 2007

10 and 11 May
Venue TBC
Valladolid, Spain

12 May
Venue TBC
Salamanca, Spain
Orquesta de Castilla y León
Alejandro Posada, conductor

Programme to include Agustín Fernández, Fuego

February 2007

Performance: Monday 19 February
The Old Tollbooth
Stirling
Mr McFall's Chamber

Tuesday 20 February
The Queen's Hall
Edinburgh
Mr McFall's Chamber

These two concerts will feature my Botanic Spider and a new work for Northumbrian pipes and ensemble which I'll be writing as a companion piece for Kathryn Tickell's Lordenshaws.

In the programme will also be Kathryn Tickell's pioneering Lordenshaws, a work for Northumbrian pipes and ensemble first commissioned by Northern Sinfonia and performed on a Contemporary Music Network tour in 2002.

The programme will include:

Agustín Fernández: Fantasia (world première)
Tim Garland: In Translation (UK première)
Agustín Fernández: Botanic Spider
Kathryn Tickell: Lordenshaws (première of the 2006 version)
Astor Piazzolla: Adiós nonino
...and other McFall hits

December 2006

Performance: 10 December 2006
Venue TBC
Malmö, Sweden
Stefan Österjö and Terje Thiwång
Agustín Fernández: A to Z

Performance: 5 December 2006
Stefan Österjö and Terje Thiwång
Nybrokajen 11
Rikskonserter
Stockholm
Agustín Fernández: A to Z

The work is a series of studies for two musicians, one playing charango or ten-string guitar, the other playing flute or piccolo or alto flute. It has been performed before in growing degrees of completion, as these two fantastic musicians kept accepting the new studies I've been sending their way. The one on 5 December will be the first full performance. The complete piece lasts eighteen to twenty minutes.

November 2006

Performance: Sunday 19 November
Huddersfield Town Hall

Huddersfield Festival
Northern Sinfonia
conducted by Thomas Zehetmair

Works by Ligeti, John Casken and the world première of Mystical Dances.

Performance: Wednesday 15 November
The Sage Gateshead, Hall Two
Northern Sinfonia
conducted by Baldur Brönnimann

Works by Gerald Barry, Martyn Harry, Matthew Rowan, Kelcey Swain, and the UK première of the 2005 version of my Peregrine, a work composed for Joel Sachs and the New Juilliard Ensemble, who gave the first performance on 22 November 2005 at the Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, New York.

News October 2006

After a strenuous period of work, my latest piece Mystical Dances is ready. It was commissioned by North Music Trust for Northern Sinfonia, and it will be performed at the Huddersfield Festival next month by this excellent orchestra under their principal conductor Thomas Zehetmair.

In a related development, contracts have been signed with Tritó S.L., the Barcelona-based music publishers, for the publication of four of my works: Mystical Dances, Peregrine, Danza de la loma and Fuego. I am pleased that the deal has been finalised and I look forward to years of fruitful collaboration with Tritó.

July 2006

To the best of my knowledge there were two performances of my music in July, and both were on the same day: 9 July.

In the afternoon, the Edinburgh-based ensemble Mr McFall's Chamber played Botanic Spider at All Saints Quayside, as part of the ¡Vamos! Festival. In the same programme the McFalls played a piece by one of my students, Sergio Camacho's Four Dances for the One Moon.

¡Vamos! being a festival of Hispanic and Lusophone culture, the rest of the McFalls' programme was a judicious selection of classical works such as the Cuban Fabio Landa's Pequeña suite cubana, Ignacio Cervantes's Adiós a Cuba and several pieces by Astor Piazzolla.

An outstanding aspect of the concert was the singing of Taylor Wilson, an extraordinary performer who offered arresting renditions of songs by Weill and Brel.

Almost at the same time, across de water a group of talented young musicians was performing my Trío at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The players were Miranda Cuckson, violin, Christopher Gross, cello, and Philip Fisher, piano. I couldn't be in both places at the same time, so I had to leave the New York event in the capable hands of its animateur, Joel Sachs. According to his report, and to a very positive review on the New York Times (11 July), the performance went very well and the reception was goood. This was the Trío's first performance outside Bolivia, where it had been played several times before by Trío Apolo, who commissioned it with funds from Fundación Arnoldo Schwimmer.

My thanks to these wonderful musicians and to their promoters, ¡Vamos! Festival and Joel Sachs, for bringing my music alive.

Welcome

Who I Am, What I Do

If you have got this far you probably know already, but for manners’ sake I should introduce myself: I am a composer, born and raised in Bolivia, a resident of the United Kingdom since 1984.

What kind of music do I write?

Uncomfortable question. The only valid answer should be to play you an example of my music, but the question presupposes that the example is not at hand.

So here it is: I write concert and stage music seeking to engage in a dialogue with the classical tradition, while continuing to absorb the experiences of the recent past to formulate viable directions for the future informed by the popular musics I have come into contact.

There. You can’t say that I avoided the question.


I am beginning to learn about blogging, and this post is my first attempt. All going well, there will be more.

Welcome to the blog of
Agustín Fernández,
composer.

While my website is being renovated, this blog will be the most up-to-date source of information on my work.