Biography

Marcos Fernandez-Barrero is a Spanish pianist, composer, and professor, active in both the national and international scene, and a faculty member at the Municipal Conservatory of Barcelona.

Early life and education

Born in Barcelona in 1984, Marcos Fernández-Barrero started his musical studies at the at the Municipal Conservatoire of Barcelona and graduated in piano from ESMUC with Maria Jesús Crespo to later continue his piano training with Ramón Coll and Isobel Anderson. In 2006he move to Scotland to do his second degree in composition, at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland with Rory Boyle, and later obtained a master's degree in composition from the Royal College of Music in London with Joe Horowitz. He also received composition lessons with Catalan based composers Carles_Guinovart_i_Rubiella, Xavier Boliart, Arnau Bataller , Albert Guinovart and English composers Mark Anthony-Turnage, and Howard Shore, the composer of the music for The Lord of the Rings.

He also studied violin with Gerard Claret, and later with Alex Vidal at the Municipal Conservatoire of Barcelona

Career

His distinguished career in music has earned him acclaim both in Spain and internationally, marked by prestigious composition awards such as the IX AEOS-Fundación BBVA 2017 Composition Prize (which awarded him 18.000€ and the performance of his work by the 28 professional orchestras of Spain), the Francisco Guerrero Prize from Fundación SGAE. His compositions have resonated globally, featuring performances by renowned orchestras such as the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, the National Orchestra of Malta, the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, the Sydney Contemporary Orchestra the National Orchestra of Spain, The Radio and TV Orchestra of Spain,the Britten Sinfoniathe Symphony Orchestra of Barcelona, the Symphony Orchestra of Galicia, the Symphony Orchestra of Asturias, the Chorus and Symphony Ochestra of Madrid (ORCAM) and the Symphony Orchestra of Seville among others.

Among his notable works is a requiem commissioned in 2022 for the Chorus and Symphony Ochestra of Madrid (ORCAM) which premiered at the National Concert Hall of Spain conducted by Marzena Diakun in November 2023. The work uses non liturigcal text, featuring a selection of seven poems by Antonio Machado and was dedicated to his father, who passed away when he started writing it. He was also commissioned a Concerto for Saxophone Quartet and Orchestra to be premiered for the Kebyart as a soloist with the Orquestra Simfònica del Vallés at the Palau de la Música Catalana in October 2024. Some other symphonic works such as America (A Homeage to Leonard Bernstein) commissioned for the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra (OBC) to be premiered by them at l'Auditori on 2019 or the widely acclaimed Nocturno Sinfonico,' programmed by 30 professional orchestras across Spain in between 2018 and 2023, showcase the breadth of his artistic prowess.

In 2014 the Sydeny Contemporary Orchestra gave the fifth performance of his Resonancias Para Orquesta repetedly programmed by the Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias and it's former artistic director Rossen Milanov. Marcos closedly collaborated with him for the World premieres of Reflejos (2015) - a symphonic work which presents the local tune 'Asturias Patria Querida' with a modern orchestration - and later Eclipse for Orchestra (2016), which later received a performace by the Symphony Ochestra of Madrid (ORCAM) conducted by Victor Pablo Pérez

Piano

During his last ten years in the United Kingdom, he performed extensively around the world as part of various chamber groups, for whom he also composed music. Additionally, he made numerous solo appearances, performing many of his solo piano pieces and also working improvising music as a ballet pianist.

Due to his interest in Cletic Music, he started collaborating with Carlos Nuñez in 2014 when he was invited to perform for his concert Homage to Alan Lomax in the Cidade da Cultura (Santiago, Spain) and later in 2024 he collaborated, both as a composer and pianist, for the creation and recording of his album Celtic Sea

In 2012 he stablished the Piano Underscore music label in London, to which produced three albums featuring some of his original works. Many have been presented since then by American pianist Benita Rose to audiences in the US, Latvia, France, UK and Spain.

Some of his most recent piano works have graced venues like the Palau de la Música Catalana, and the Maria Canals International Piano Competition, which commissioned the work FugaCity for the contestants of the 2021 edition. Since then the work has been included in the touring concerts of the winners Jaeden Izik-dzurko’s (Canada), Masaya Kamei (Japan) and Antonio Chen (Italy). The collection of three piano pieces Scenes was commissioned at the same time for the pianist Alex Alguacil to be premiered at the Palau de la Música Catalana in 2022, which was later programmed by the pianist in Lilis Hall (Yokohama, Japan). and at the Círcol de Reus (Tarragona, Spain).

Opera - Dance - Multidisciplinary collaborations

In 2011 he worked as the resident composer of Crea.Art Box for the crafted their commisioned opera 'Noctum'. A second opera exploring the world of football and the Premier League titled 'Miracle, was commissioned from him in collaboration with best-selling author David Almond to be produced by Opera Sunderland in 2015. The success of this led to the Arts Council of England funding his third opera, 'The Soldier's Return,' premiered in the 2019/2020 season with a libretto by Eliot prize-winning poet Jacob Polley.

Thanks to the funding by Premis Barcelona 2020 Marcos was commissioned a his ballet Smart City (Plancton) to be produced by the Ballet Contemporani de Catalunya with a coreography by Miquel G. Font. which premiered in 2021 at Teatre - Auditori de Sant Cugat (Barcelona) in 2021. In the sam year, he started his collaboration with Spanish and artist based in Japan, Carolina Ceca working on the music for theirs first videart, Intangible, featuring Butoh dance.

Since then, he has scored her later videoarts: Resistance (2023-2024), Dilemma (2022-2023) and Aleph (2021-2022)

Music Style

His musical oeuvre is characterized by a fusion of diverse techniques and aesthetics, seamlessly blending modern currents with contemporary tendencies, minimalism, electroacoustics, Celtic folklore, flamenco, and jazz. This versatility is evident across various genres, from symphonic and chamber works to operas, ballets, piano compositions, and film scores, showcasing a unique and captivating artistic language that resonates with diverse audiences.

In addition to his musical achievements, his commitment to making music accessible to society led to an invitation from the Royal Society of Arts in London, where he became a fellow during his 12-year residence.

Teaching

In 2016 he founded the Theory and Composition course at the Trinity Music Academy in London and later served as a composition professor in Madrid's TAI University. He is currently based in Barcelona, where he teaches piano at the Municipal Conservatory of Barcelon since 2019.

He has publish some collections of pedagocgial works, some of which have been included in the Piano Music Syllabus 2023 of the Trinity College Exams

Watch videos of interviews to the catalan composer Marcos Fernandez-Barrero here