Biography

Marcos Fernandez-Barrero is a Spanish pianist, composer, and professor who is a member of the Royal Society of Arts (London), active in 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

Su distinguida carrera musical le ha valido reconocimiento tanto en España como a nivel internacional con varias docenas de premios y destacándose por el Premio Francisco Guerrero de la Fundación SGAE o el prestigioso IX Premio AEOS-Fundación BBVA, que le otorgó 18.000€ y entre 2018 y 2020 lo consolidó como «el compositor vivo más programado en la sala sinfónica española». Sus composiciones han sido interpretadas tanto a nivel nacional como internacional por orquestas como la Orquesta Nacional de España, la Orquesta de Radio y Televisión Española, la Filarmónica de los Países Bajos, el Orchestre National de Bretagne, la Columbus Symphony Orchestra, la Princeton Symphony Orchestra, la Orquesta Nacional de Malta, la Britten Sinfonia, la Sydney Contemporary Orchestra, la Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, la Orquesta Sinfónica de Asturias, la Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid o la Orquesta Sinfónica de Sevilla, entre muchas otras.

Entre sus obras más destacadas se encuentra un Réquiem encargado en 2022 por el Coro y la Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid, que se estrenó en el Auditorio Nacional de España con texto de Antonio Machado y escrito en homenaje a su padre durante el proceso de duelo tras su reciente fallecimiento. También recibió el encargo de un Concerto for sax quartet and orchestra en 2023, estrenado en el Palau de la Música Catalana con el cuarteto Kebyart y la Orquesta Sinfónica del Vallès. En 2019, la Orquesta Sinfónica de Barcelona y Nacional de Catalunya (OBC) estrenó en L’Auditori el encargo America (Homenaje a Bernstein), y entre sus encargos más recientes destacan un Concierto para Violonchelo y Orquesta para el solista Guillermo Pastrana, Celtic Sea Symphonique with Carlos Núñez como solista y la Orchestre National de Bretagne, y un Triple Concierto para el Trio Pedrell y la orquesta Terrassa 48.

In 2014, the Sydney Contemporary Orchestra gave the fifth performance of his work Resonancias para orquesta*Resonàncies per a orquestra*, repeatedly programmed by the Asturian Symphony Orchestra, with whom he also premiered Reflejos (2015) —a symphonic work featuring the local melody “Asturias Patria Querida”— and later Eclipse para orquesta (2016) and Nocturno Sinfónico (2023).

Piano

During his final ten years in the United Kingdom, he performed extensively around the world as part of several chamber groups, for which he also composed music. In addition, he gave numerous solo performances, playing many of his works for solo piano and also working as an improvising pianist for classical ballet and contemporary dance.

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 founded the music label Piano Underscore in London, through which he produced three albums that include original works designed to be accessible to non-expert audiences. Many of these were created with a pedagogical focus and have been included in the Piano Music Syllabus 2023 of the Trinity College (London) examination programme.

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.

 

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