Agustí Fernández 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 (The Village Voice, New York).

Over the course of his long and successful career, pianist Agustí Fernández has built up an international reputation, not only as one of Spain’s most outstanding performers, but as a reference in the world of improvised music. Fernández was born in Palma de Mallorca, where he studied piano, later continuing his studies in Barcelona, France and Germany. A professional musician since the age of just thirteen, his life changed completely when he discovered the work of Cecil Taylor and Iannis Xenakis when studying with the latter in 1978. Fernández’s career as a solo artist really began to take off at the II Biennial of Young Creative Artists in Thessaloniki, Greece, in 1987, since when he has performed at major festivals all over Spain and Europe, as well as composing for dance, theatre, cinema and television.

Co-founder and director of the Orquestra del Caos and director of the Big Ensemble del Taller de Músics in Barcelona, Fernández also co-founded the IBA (Improvisadors de Barcelona) Orchestra with Joan Saura and Liba Villavecchia, directing the impro ensemble until 2001.

Agustí Fernández collaborated regularly with fellow pianist Carles Santos, and took part with him in a number of shows from 1982 to 1998. He has also taken part in performances by the artist Jordi Benito, as well as composing music for the Catalan designer Antonio Miró and collaborating with the flamenco cantaor Miguel Poveda, puppeteer Joan Baixas and draftsman Perico Pastor.

Over the course of his career, moreover, he was worked with such outstanding contemporary dance choreographers as Àngels Margarit, María Muñoz, Ramon Oller, Tomás Aragay and Margarita Guergué, amongst others. He also accompanied the Merce Cunningham Dance Company when this renowned dance troupe presented Event in Barcelona in 2009.

In 1998, Fernández began a close artistic collaboration with choreographer and dancer Andrés Corchero, with whom he has created a number of shows over the years. In 1998, moreover, he formed the Trío Local with Joan Saura and Liba Villavecchia.

In 2003, Fernández became the first Spanish musician to record for the prestigious German label ECM, playing with the Evan Parker Electro-Acoustic Ensemble (of which he has been a member since 2002) on the CD Memory/Vision. Fernández also joined the Barry Guy New Orchestra in 2002.

Three years later, in 2005, he formed the Fernández/Guy/López trio. The new ensemble made its debut at the Grec Festival of Barcelona to present the CD Aurora, which won unanimous worldwide critical acclaim.

Fernández was musical director of the TVE programme Glasnost in 1989-91, and co-director (with Barbara Held) of the Metrònom International Experimental Music Week in Barcelona in 1997-1999. From 2000 to 2006, he directed the Nous Sons contemporary music festival, organised at L’Auditori in Barcelona. Finally, he has curated the Music Nights season at the Joan Miró Foundation in the Catalan capital since the year 2000.

Agustí Fernández has also taught impro at ESMUC, the Catalan college of music, since 2000.

A prolific musician, he has recorded more than 50 CDs to date.

Awards:

• 2009 City of Barcelona Prize for Music (Premi Ciutat de Barcelona de música).
• 2002 FAD Prize for the show A modo de esperanza, produced with Andrés Corchero in memory of the poet José Ángel Valente.
• 2000 Altaveu Prize.

Critical honours:

• CD Aurora:
  • Fourth best album in the history of Catalan jazz according to Jaç magazine (2009)
  • Recording of the Year 2007, according to the magazine Cuadernos de Jazz.
  • Record of the month (February 07) in the French Jazz Magazine.
• CD Un llamp que no s’acaba mai:
  • Listed as one of the albums of the year in 2009 by AllAboutJazz (New York).
  • Jaç magazine critics’ award for best jazz record 2009.
• CD Silent Dance (2009):
  • Honourable mention in the magazine AllAboutJazz (New York)
• CD Draco:
  • Second best record of 2009 according to the magazine Cuadernos de Jazz.
• His 2007 concert Mutza (solo piano) in New York was listed in the top ten concerts of the year by the New York magazine AllAboutJazz.
• CD Lonely Woman:
  • Record of the year 2005, Cuadernos de Jazz.

Agustí Fernández has played with...

Beñat Achiary, Derek Bailey, John Butcher, Lawrence Casserley, Tom Chant, Tom Cora, Marilyn Crispell, J.A.Deane, Marc Démereau, John Edwards, Peter Evans, Mats Gustafsson, Barry Guy, Susie Ibarra, Christoph Irmer, Masa Kamaguchi, Peter Kowald, Jo Krause, Ramón López, Paul Lovens, Mat Maneri, Baldo Martínez, Wade Matthews, David Mengual, François Merville, Joe Morris, Lawrence D. “Butch” Morris, Sainkho Namtchylak, Lê Quan Ninh, Steve Noble, Tony Oxley, Evan Parker, William Parker, Jane Rigler, Joel Ryan, Wolfgang Reisinger, Herb Robertson, Jordi Sabatés, Mark Sanders, Ivo Sans, Joan Saura, Matthew Shipp, Paul Stouthamer, Omar Tamez, Clayton Thomas, Assif Tsahar, Liba Villavecchia, David Xirgu, Ingar Zach y Carlos Zingaro, among many others.

SELECTED DISCOGRAPHY:

Solo piano:

• 1987 Agustí Fernández “Ardent“ (Blau)
• 1990 Agustí Fernández “La Porta” (PE)
• 1991 Agustí Fernández “Via Augusta” (PE)
• 1998 Agustí Fernández “1 is not 1” (Nova Era)
• 2001 Agustí Fernández “Serendipities and Territories” (IBA)
• 2002 Agustí Fernández "Para Teresa" (PE)
• 2004 Agustí Fernández “Camallera“ (G3G/Sirulita)

As leader:

• 1988 Agustí Fernández Sextet “Nofres“ (PDI)
• 1991 Agustí Fernández & Big Ensemble del Taller de Músics “Aura” (Taller)
• 1998 Agustí Fernández, Susie Ibarra & William Parker “Live at the Joan Miró Foundation" (Synergy)
• 2004 Agustí Fernández Quartet “Lonely Woman“ (Taller/Sirulita)

With Barry Guy and Ramón López:

• 2007 ”Aurora” (Maya)
• 2010 “Morning Glory” (Maya)

With the Trio Local (Agustí Fernández, Liba Villavecchia & Joan Saura):

• 2000 “Trio Local” (IBA)
• 2001 “Trio Local +” (Dewdrop)
• 2010 "Vitralls" (Agharta Music)

With the Evan Parker Electro-Acoustic Ensemble:

• 2003 “Memory/Vision“ (ECM)
• 2005 “The Eleventh Hour “(ECM)
• 2009 "The Moment's Energy" (ECM)

Collaborations:

• 1990 Agustí Fernández & Wolfgang Reisinger “Unexpected“ (PE)
• 1996 Agustí Fernández & Evan Parker “Tempranillo” (Nova Era)
• 1996 Agustí Fernández & Evan Parker on the compilatión “Buenaventura Durruti” (NATO)
• 1998 Agustí Fernández & Marilyn Crispell “Dark night, and luminous” (Nova Era)
• 1998 Agustí Fernández & Christoph Irmer “Ebro Delta” (Hybrid)
• 2001 Agustí Fernández & William Parker “Second Set” (Radical Records)
• 2001 Lawrence D.“Butch” Morris, Graham Haynes, Agustí Fernández, J.A.Deane, Joan Saura “Conduction # 113, Interflight” (Palacio de Cristal)
• 2002 Derek Bailey & Agustí Fernández “Barcelona“ (Hopscotch)
• 2003 Agustí Fernández & Jane Rigler “Mandorla“(Dewdrop)
• 2003 Christoph Irmer, John Butcher & Agustí Fernández “Clearings“(ART)
• 2005 Barry Guy New Orchestra, “Oort /Entropy” (Intakt)
• 2005 Agustí Fernández & Mats Gustafsson, “Critical Mass” (Psi)
• 2005 Agustí Fernández & Peter Kowald, “Sea of lead” (Hopscotch)
• 2005 Ensemble Impromptu “Instint” (Marmita)
• 2005 Spanish Brass Luur Metalls “Gaudi’um” (Anacrusi)
• 2006 Evan Parker Octet, “Crossing the River” (Psi)
• 2007 Herb Robertson, Evan Parker, Agustí Fernández “Parallelisms” (Rubyflower)
• 2007 Ramón López, Harri Sjöstrom, Agustí Fernández “L’étrange partition sonore (Jazzosphère/NoLimit)
• 2007 Agustí Fernández, Evan Parker, Barry Guy & Paul Lytton “Topos” (Maya)
• 2008 Agustí Fernández & Ingar Zach "Germinal" (Plastic Strip)
• 2009 Agustí Fernández & Jo Krause "Draco" (Anacrusi)
• 2009 Agustí Fernández, John Edwards & Mark Sanders "Un llamp que no s'acaba mai" (Psi)
• 2009 Derek Bailey & Agustí Fernández "A Silent Dance" (Incus)
• 2009 Agustí Fernández & Barry Guy "Some Other Place" (Maya)
• 2010 Agustí Fernández, Baldo Martínez & Ramón