Agust\u00ed Fern\u00e1ndez (Palma de Mallorca, 1954), with a perfectly based career and a well-deserved international reputation, is one of the Spanish musicians of major international projection and a world reference in the field of improvised music. Fern\u00e1ndez has worked with famous musicians of the free improvisation scene like Peter Kowald, Derek Bailey, Butch Morris, Evan Parker, Barry Guy, Mats Gustafsson, Joel Ryan and Peter Evans a.m.o. He is a member of the Blue Shroud Band, Mats Gustafsson NU Ensemble and Barry Guy New Orchestra. Up to the current date he has published more than 80 cd\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Agust\u00ed Fern\u00e1ndez is one of the most important explorers of avant-garde music in Spain, combining his thorough knowledge of 20th-century modern classical piano with jazz free improvisation to a forge a unique and powerful style\u201d (The Village Voice, New York).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He has also worked with the recognized composer of contemporary music H\u00e9ctor Parra, who composed in collaboration with the pianist FREC, a solo for expanded piano. FREC has been premiered at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival in 2013 with the collaboration of the video artist Lucas Caraba.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He has conducted various improvised music ensembles like Ad Libitum Ensemble (Varsaw), Free Art Ensemble (Barcelona), Ansambl Studio 6 (Lujbljana) Orquesta FOCO (Madrid), Entenguerengue (J\u00e9rez de la Frontera), Impromtu Ensemble (Valencia), etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Awards and recognition<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Along his professional life Agust\u00ed Fern\u00e1ndez has received wide recognition. His solo for piano \u00abMutza\u00bb presented in New York in 2007 was distinguished by the New York magazine AllAboutJazz as one of 10 best concerts from that year. The CD \u00abUn llamp que no s\u2019acaba mai\u00bb on PSI (Agust\u00ed Fern\u00e1ndez, John Edwards and Mark Sanders) has been distinguished by Allaboutjazz as one of the best 10 cd\u2019s in 2009; the CD \u00abAurora\u00bb on Maya Recordings (Agust\u00ed Fernandez, Barry Guy and Ram\u00f3n L\u00f3pez) was selected by Cuadernos de Jazz magazine as the best CD in 2007, by the Ja\u00e7 magazine as the best fourth disc of the history of the Catalan jazz and it was Disc d\u2019\u00e9moi (February, 2007) for the French Jazz Magazine. The \u201dAgust\u00ed Fern\u00e1ndez Aurora Trio\u201d received the second prize at the BMW Welt Jazz Award 2012 celebrated in M\u00fcnich, Germany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2000 he received the Festival Altaveu Award, Sant Boi de Llobregat (Catalonia). In 2001 he received the FAD \u2013 Sebasti\u00e0 Guasch Award, Barcelona (Catalu\u00f1a) with Andr\u00e9s Corchero por el or the performance \u201cA modo de esperanza\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2010 he received the \u00abCiutat de Barcelona Music Award\u00bb granted by the Council of Barcelona. In 2013 he received the \u201cNational Prize of Culture\u201d granted by the Catalan Government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2011 Agust\u00ed Fern\u00e1ndez was the main character of the documentary film \u201cLos dedos hu\u00e9spedes\u201d by Lucas Caraba, which has been screened in several international festivals of documentary. In 2014 the Ad Libitum Festival (Warsaw) dedicated a monographic edition to celebrate Fern\u00e1ndez\u2019s 60th Birthday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Teaching Activity<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n He\u2019s professor of improvised music at the Escuela Superior de M\u00fasica de Catalunya (ESMUC). He\u2019s developing an important teaching activity in the field of improvised music and, among other, he has been teaching in IRCAM in Paris, the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre de Tallin, the Royal Conservatory in The Hague (Holland), the Conservatory in Arhem (Holland), the Taller de M\u00fasicos in Gij\u00f3n (Spain), the Taller de M\u00fasics in Barcelona (Spain) and the Conservatorio Superior de M\u00fasica in Salamanca (Spain).<\/p>\n\n\n\n