rgentine composer and pianist, he found his voice as musician and bandleader when, at the urging of one of his music teachers, he began to incorporate the indigenous sounds of his native Buenos Aires into his work. A serious student of classical music with an ability to master a variety of instruments from a very young age, at age five he began studying piano and singing.
«The sound of Buenos Aires, improvisation and orchestration together with the formal framework that characterizes classical and contemporary music are the elements with which Fernando Otero managed to create a trademark, a style of his own that is unequivocal.» (The Guardian, London, Feb. 2008)
«Articles in the New York Times and specialized magazines like Jazziz or Downbeat openly praise the level of Fernando Otero as pianist and composer, placing him as an innovative figure in the world scene of today.» (Lucid Culture, 2008)
Undoubtedly, experimentation is a path that Fernando Otero has followed based on a solid musical background. His early experimentations were rudimentary home recordings made in his childhood at the apartment where he grew up in Buenos Aires downtown. The marble in his bathroom provided good acoustics, and with a multitrack four-channel tape machine he recorded all that was possible to achieve with instruments which were carried to the room. With the passing of time he improved in the art of handling a true recording studio to get wide sound results.
Even though his training was mainly classical, his interest for popular music was growing, very often he paid more attention to the rock and jazz records of his sister than to his formal lessons. «My music teacher, Marcelo Braga Saralegui, showed me the possibility of expressing myself departing from the sound of tango, turning back to the roots of the native genre of my city. Not necessarily classic tango, but the sound of the streets, the surrounding atmosphere. I began to include bandoneon, which always was one of my favorite instruments and I started my first project, X-Tango.»
Twenty years have passed since Otero opened his ears to this wealth of ideas but he has always kept his X-tango vision, and on his Nonesuch debut “Página de Buenos Aires”, he evokes a feeling of Buenos Aires – something you can sense even if you have never been there --especially through his innovative use of the bandoneon, the heart of tango. But the world Otero conjures up is really all his own. Tango is a jumping-off point for an instrumental sound that boasts the improvisatory thrill of jazz within a more formal, contemporary classical structure. In his last CD “Página de Buenos Aires”, his work is often short, sometimes long, fast-paced and intense, full of enough dramatic stops and starts to astonish first-time listeners – and confound any couple that might be fooled into thinking this is simply dance music. (BBC London)
As a composer, Otero is both rigorous and playful. It’s no surprise that the always adventurous Kronos Quartet commissioned a piece from him -El Cerezo (The Cherry Tree) – which the quartet premiered at Carnegie Hall in February 2008. In “Página de Buenos Aires” Fernando Otero presents his original material in a variety of formats: on solo piano, as a duo with violinist Nick Danielson, a trio of bandoneon, bass and piano, a quintet of bandoneon, piano, violin, cello and acoustic bass, two pieces for bandoneon and orchestra –conducted by Otero and featuring Héctor Del Curto as soloist. Though most of the work is new, there are renditions of these pieces in previous albums. These tracks illustrate the breath, consistency and remarkable maturity of Otero’s vision.
“His music is very expressive” says violinist Danielson, a distinguished artist who has performed with Wynton Marsalis, Wayne Shorter, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the New York City Ballet Orchestra and many others. “It is not easy to play. You have to play with all your emotion.”
Otero has clearly focused his ambitions on his compositions, not on the social machinations of his career, which he has allowed to develop somewhat serendipitously. He relocated to New York City a decade ago. He admits that he was drawn here by a romance, not according to some master plan to search for opportunities. Before being known by great audiences his music drew the attention of Quincy Jones, Dave Grusin, Eddie Gomez, Kronos Quartet, Assad Bros, Lenny White, Dave Valentín and Paquito D'Rivera, among others.
His Plan CD, recorded in 2002, succeeded in attracting an interesting audience that generally included other artists who began to request Otero as composer and pianist in their projects.
Salma Hayek introduced Quincy Jones to Otero at a party in her house in Beverly Hills, California.
Thereafter in Los Angeles after Otero’s two-hour solo piano recital, Quincy Jones arrived unannounced backstage asking the simple question: “What would you like to do?” which meant an invitation to do a project with him. “It was as if Santa Claus had come backstage” Otero recalls.
Fernando’s compositions and his piano continued appearing in jazz and contemporary classical music programs simultaneously. He had a whole season in Birdland with Paquito D'Rivera, and at the same time appeared at the Lincoln Center with the Chico O'Farrill Jazz Orchestra, at Carnegie Hall with the Kronos Quartet, at Iridium with Eddie Gomez, or in duo with Nick Danielson also at the Lincoln Center.
“Time before –says Paquito D’Rivera- my trumpeter Diego Urcola called my attention to Nicolas Danielson and Fernando Otero, whom he holds in high regard and he made me listen to his Plan CD. I soon wanted to hear him play and I attended a show they presented in Manhattan. That evening he played with the violinist Nick Danielson. I was so impressed by what I had heard that I invited Fernando to play piano with me and to record his “Milonga 10” for my next CD. I also invited Nick to join my group in a series of concerts at the Lincoln Center. Since then Otero is one of my favorite composers.”
Otero was reared in an environment steeped in music and the arts. His father, an actor, had a car accident when Otero was one year old, and passed away soon thereafter. His mother, Elsa Marval, an internationally successful opera singer, brought him up and step by step followed his son’s growing interest in the art expression. His parents were first generation Argentines and his grandparents had emigrated from Spain and France. “Music at home was very natural. We had a piano, guitars, flutes, mikes and recording machines. Those were my favorite toys. My sister also sang and played piano. I didn’t even think about being a musician or not. I just was a musician. Always. I don’t remember having even thought to do anything else or having any doubt. I never thought about doing anything else.”
His mother always fueled his desires to buy new instruments or records, taking lessons or attending recitals of any kind.
At age five he began studying piano and singing. He started to study guitar when he was around ten. He also picked up drums which led to problems with his neighbors. When he was thirteen he played in a rock music trio. “Whatever I requested from my mother, if it was connected to a musical aspect, her answer was always yes”.
“My mother took me to hear the National Symphonic Orchestra of Argentina led by Domingo Marafiotti to the Teatro Colón. He later was my teacher. I was so charmed by that sound that I thought and almost decided that that was what I loved. That was my way of expression. The classes in Composition, Orchestration and Orchestra Conducting with Marafiotti reaffirmed my, nearly definitive, inclination for instrumental music. I began to admire Alberto Ginastera, Bela Bartók and Igor Stravinsky because they were composers that turned to the influence of the folk music of their own countries. As for South American music, some important influences for me were Osvaldo Pugliese, Egberto Gismonti y Hugo Fattorusso.»
In his early projects his voice was the main element, but when he apprehended the technical mastery of composition for string quartet, symphonic orchestra and improvisation, his expression was moving towards the final product that today he offers to us: instrumental music, without words. Otero has written string quartets, like “El Cerezo” recently premiered by the renowned Kronos Quartet at Carnegie Hall, three symphonies, pieces for orchestra, concertos, piano trios and works for varied chambers groups. All this music has been published by Warner Music.