Agustí Fernández

Born in 1954 in Palma de Mallorca, Mallorca, Spain, Fernández launched his professional music career while still in his early teens. Piano instruction took him to centers in Spain, France, and Germany. His approach to free improvisation quickly attracted notice, prompting repeated partnerships throughout the 1980s and 1990s with Carlos Santos and Jordi Benito, and later with Andres Corchero. He helped establish several experimental ensembles. A 2000 collaboration with Butch Morris led the next year to work with Jane Rigler and then Pep Llopis. His own quartet stayed active through the early 2000s, including projects with Tomas Aragay, and he has also belonged to Slow.

With Barbara Held, Fernández co-directed the International Music Experimental Metrònom during the late 1990s; in the early 2000s he served as director of multiple improvised-music programs in Barcelona. Over several years he has taught improvisation at Escola Superior de Musica de Cataluña. Performers he has appeared with include Derek Bailey, Tom Cora, Marilyn Crispell, Dani Domínguez, Mats Gustafsson, Barry Guy, Christoph Irmer, Peter Kowald, David Mengual, Tony Oxley, Evan Parker, William Parker, Wolfgang Reisinger, Matthew Shipp, and David Xirgu. His concerts have taken place in Madrid, New York, London, Glasgow, Paris, and Berlin. He has written scores for film, television, and theatre as well.