Fernando Egozcue

Fernando Egozcue (born June 23, 1959, in Buenos Aires) is an Argentinian guitarist and composer. Fernando Pablo Egozcue Folgueras was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on June 23, 1959. Son of Carlos María Egozcue and Beatriz Folgueras, a lawyer and French teacher respectively, he briefly starts his studies on guitar; with just 5 years assists to the lessons of the teacher Blanca de Solari, in this neighborhood of Nuñez, under her mother's keep eye, mainstay on his education. During these first years he combined music and school until, at the age of 13, he and his friends in Nuñez starts to discover the pleasure of improvising, spending the afternoons of his early adolescence creating musical atmospheres in a group; this definitely defined him as musician from a very younger age.

At the age of 12 he starts a medium degree in music at the Music Municipal Conservatory of Buenos Aires, where he studies Harmony with the well-known Argentinean composer Carlos Guastavino. He finishes his studies in the Music National Conservatory of Buenos Aires, obtaining in 1979 the title of National Teacher of Music, specialty in Guitar, under the professorship of Horacio Ceballos.

Over two consecutive years, 1978 and 1979, he obtained the prestigious scholarship of the Government of Brazil to participate in the X and XI International Guitar Seminar in the city of Porto Alegre where he had the opportunity to study Guitar with Abel Carlevaro, Álvaro Pierri, Miguel Ángel Girolet and Contemporary Music with the composer Francis Schwartz.

During his adolescence, he studies composition with Luis María Corallini and Guitar with Nelly Menotti. Later on he learns Counterpoint and Composition with Guillermo Graetzer, disciple of Paul Hindemith as well as Jazz with Greg Hopking, teacher of the Berklee College of Music of Boston (one of the most prestigious music schools in the world) in Buenos Aires, and yet in 1983 he made his recording debut with his own composition, "Música de la ciudad de Buenos Aires" (Music of the city of Buenos Aires).

In 1992 he moved to Spain, where he lives currently. There he continued his musical studies, obtaining in 1996 the Superior Title of Guitar in the Music Superior Conservatory of San Lorenzo del Escorial (Madrid).

Egozcue's work includes compositions for solo guitar as well as for quartet, quintet and septet groups mainly. He has also composed for big orchestras; for example, his piece "Concert for guitar and string orchestra" interpreted by the Chamber Orchestra Andrés Segovia under the direction of José Luis Novo, first performed in 2003 in the National Auditory of Music of Madrid. On 21 June 2011, an ambitious project was first played by the Asturias Symphony Orchestra at the Príncipe Felipe Congress Hall-Auditorium in Oviedo, with Egozcue himself on the guitar, the "bandoneonista" Omar Massa, the tenor José Manuel Zapata and the "cantaora flamenca" Rocío Márquez, under the direction of Joan Albert Amargós: the orchestration of his own traditional tango arrangements as well as other compositions.

In addition to his activity as a composer, Egozcue has participated in the academic field. From 1997 to 2003 he was a music teacher and director of the Music Municipal School of Coslada (Madrid). He has also been panel judge in the XVIII Contest on Spanish Dance Choreography and Flamenco celebrated at the Canal Theatre of Madrid in 2009.

As his journey has unfolded, he has received numerous appreciations and prizes. Yet in 1979 he was awarded first prize in the Guitar National Contest of San Lorenzo in Argentina. He was also elected finalist at the XII Music Awards in 2008, granted by the Spanish Music Academy, in the category of "Best Player of Classical Music" with the violinist Ara Malikian for their record Lejos. And in 2010 he was finalist at the XIII Max Awards of the Scenic Arts, granted by the Spanish General Society of Authors and Editors (Sociedad General de Autores y Editores – SGAE-) and the Author Foundation (Fundación Autor), in the category of "Best music composition for scenic performance" for his original score for the performance Jazzing Flamenco.

Egozcue mainly performs live concerts of his own compositions and his different groups and performances have been presented in the best theatres and festivals all over the world. In Spain he has played in the Liceo Theatre of Barcelona, the Palau de las Artes of Valencia, Albeniz Theatre of Madrid, Royal Theatre of Madrid, National Auditory of Music of Madrid, Patio de Conde Duque of Madrid (under the cycles "Summers of Villa") and Debod Temple. Abroad, he has showcased his music on five continents, taking part in the festivals Wexford Festival Opera (Ireland), Columbia Festival in Maryland (United States), Quebec Summer Festival (United States), Is Sanat Festival en Istanbul (Turkey), International Jazz Festival of Montreal (Canada), National Arts Centre in Ottawa (Canada), Memorial Auditorium at Stanford University in California (United States), Opernhaus Düsseldorf (Germany) and Al Bustan Festival in Beirut (Lebanon). And he has toured Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, United States, Canada, Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Norway, Ireland, Monaco, Romania, Greece, Turkey, Bahrain, Cyprus, Oman, Reunion Island and Jordan.

Fernando Egozcue has combined his classical education with the jazz influences and the contemporary music, becoming the author of an own and exclusive music gender which has consolidated him as a reputed composer and performer. Currently he is focused on his own projects and on collaborations with other relevant musicians.