Annotation:
Premiere by choreographer Dagmar Spain in collaborations with 5 dancers facing the issue of attachment as well as detachment from others, from the group, the liberation from old structures, and also the importance of support from others to strive forward. What do we need to go on a new, potentially very different path. Can we prepare for it or does the path reveal itself while we are on it?
Fernando Otero, an Argentine Grammy Winner composer and pianist residing in New York, found his voice as writer, 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 unique and provocative style developed, which combined the improvisatory thrill of jazz with a contemporary classical structure in compositions that were often fast–paced and intense, full of dramatic stops and starts" BBC London 2007. He won the Latin Grammy for Best Classical album in 2010 with his album entitled "Vital" (Harmonia Mundi).
He has written music for orchestra, chamber ensembles, string quartet, choir, and solo instruments as piano, violin and cello, having many of his compositions commissioned and premiered by performers like the Kronos Quartet , with the premiere of "The Cherry Tree" at Carnegie Hall in February 2008. Careening between rigorous classical disciplines and the freewheeling improvisations typical of jazz and his homeland's native tango, his most indelible influences included Igor Stravinsky , Béla Bartók and Bill Evans , plus those who also incorporated folklore into their music, South American icons like fellow Argentine Astor Piazzolla, Brazilian composer Egberto Gismonti, and Hugo Fattoruso of Uruguay. Due to the nature of his compositions and performance, he was embraced by both New York classical and jazz scenes. He has performed with legendary bassist Eddie Gomez , flautist Dave Valentin, the Arturo O'Farrill Jazz Orchestra, and was featured in the Grammy Award-winning album Funk Tango by maestro Paquito D'Rivera, with whom he has also performed at Birdland, Blue Note (New York) , and the Caramoor Classical Music Festival. Fernando Otero has written and produced soundtracks for movies and recorded in more than 40 albums.
"Otero is a seriously talented pianist, and his orchestrations are equal parts Bernard Hermann and Charlie Parker. That is, they alternate between jagged suspenseful crescendos and long, sinuous melodies. This music bounds out of the speakers and leaps into every corner of the room at once, exhilarating but also bewildering."
(Phil Freeman, Jazziz Magazine)
Jose Ramon Gonzalez (composer, pianist) was born in Valladolid (Spain) where he studied music and musicology. After graduation he completed his piano studies in Prague where he move permanently in 1999. As a pianist he has performed classical music but started in 2005 to have experiences with Jazz and Latin music. He joined the main Latin Jazz bands in the Czech Republic and central Europe. As a composer he has worked especially for piano, as well as for chamber orchestra. His style has elements from classical music, minimalism and Jazz. Jose explores new rhythmic patterns applying to melody.
