Those who knew him since childhood recount that by the age of four. Frank Fernández was already pressing the piano keys with his fingers. Producing the magical sounds that would captivate him for life.
The most discerning press, when reviewing his work, has more than once described him as “tender and fierce, lyrical and virtuosic.” For embracing the piano as a combination of love and challenge.
It is for this reason, and perhaps because of his unassuming nature. That even now, at the height of his career, he shares a sacred place among Lecuona, Montaner, Manfugás Hernández, Rodríguez, and Labraña. He once confessed: “There are mornings when one prepares to face life’s difficulties. There are others when it is impossible to survive without lyricism and tenderness.”
When asked about the piano, he added, “Sometimes I challenged it, but the piano always won. When we were young, there was some struggle between it and me. Over time we developed a harmony, a close communication that reaches the spiritual.”
Born in Mayari, in the former province of Oriente, Frank is a living legend of Cuban music. A source of pride for the people of Holguin and for Cuba as a whole. His talent has represented his nation in Moscow and Madrid. Among other great capitals where music nourishes the spirits of people with the most refined taste.
At the age of five, he began taking lessons with his mother, Altagracia Tamayo. Tamayo was the director of the Obrón Academy in Mayari. Later, he received lessons from Esteban Forés in Mayari. As a young man, Fernández moved to Havana, where he played in nightclubs and cabarets. He entered the Amadeo Roldán Conservatory, where he studied with Margot Rojas.
Critics have described him as “a man touched by the divine.” “One of the world’s most masterful interpreters of sublime musical moments.” “Someone unprecedented, an unforgettable pianist.”
Fernández has written more than 650 works in various formats, from ballets, choral pieces, and symphonies to arrangements of popular music. As well as themes for television and radio. He has worked with Silvio Rodríguez, Vicente Feliú, and Pancho Amat.
On August 18th, 2015, at the age of 71, Fernández made his U.S. debut at the Ravinia Festival in Highland Park, Illinois.
Throughout his artistic career, he continues to enrich Cuban music. Elevating it to a symphonic level, as he has done with Ernesto Lecuona’s La Comparsa.
For Fernández, playing the piano “demands strength,” but that strength is channeled with a talent that only nature bestows. Also this great musician is undoubtedly our most universal pianist. And there are his recordings that immortalize him beyond geographical and temporal boundaries.
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