François Fernandez (born 22 February 1960) is a French classical

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

ist who specializes in

historically informed performance Historically informed performance (also referred to as period performance, authentic performance, or HIP) is an approach to the performance of Western classical music, classical music which aims to be faithful to the approach, manner and style of ...

Career

Born in

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine, in northwestern France. It is in the prefecture of Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one ...

in a family of musicians, Fernandez began learning the classical violin at the age of twelve, then the

baroque violin A Baroque violin is a violin set up in the manner of the baroque period of music. The term includes original instruments which have survived unmodified since the Baroque period, as well as later instruments adjusted to the baroque setup, and moder ...

, two years later, and finally devoted himself solely to the baroque instrument, undertaking a parallel study with

Sigiswald Kuijken Sigiswald Kuijken (; born 16 February 1944) is a Belgian violinist, violist, and conductor known for playing on period and original instruments. Biography Kuijken was born in Dilbeek, near Brussels. He was a member of the Alarius Ensemble o ...

. At the age of seventeen, he played with the Kuijken brothers'

La Petite Bande La Petite Bande is a Belgium-based ensemble specialising in music of the Baroque and Classical eras played on period instruments. They are particularly known for their recordings of works by Corelli, Rameau, Handel, Bach, Haydn, and Mozart. Hi ...

and, in 1978, obtained his

solo Solo or SOLO may refer to: Arts and entertainment Characters * Han Solo, a ''Star Wars'' character * Jacen Solo, a Jedi in the non-canonical ''Star Wars Legends'' continuity * Kylo Ren (Ben Solo), a ''Star Wars'' character * Napoleon Solo, fr ...

ist's diploma. He then played with other Baroque ensembles as a soloist, notably with the Kuijken Quartet, La Chapelle Royale, the

Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century The Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century () is a Dutch early music orchestra. Frans Brüggen and Lucy van Dael co-founded the orchestra in 1981. Sieuwert Verster became financial manager in 1984. Although he did not have a formal title with the orc ...

Les Agrémens LES or Les may refer to: People * Les (given name) * Les (surname) * L.E.S. (producer), hip hop producer Space flight * Launch Entry Suit, worn by Space Shuttle crews * Launch escape system, for spacecraft emergencies * Lincoln Experimental S ...

, the , Melante 81, the

Ricercar Consort The Ricercar Consort is a Belgian instrumental ensemble founded in 1980 together with the Ricercar record label of Jérôme Lejeune. The founding members were violinist François Fernandez, organist Bernard Foccroulle, and viola da gamba pla ...

, the Baroque orchestra

Les Muffatti The orchestra Les Muffatti was created in 1996 in and around the Royal Conservatory of Brussels by a group of twelve idealistic musicians who wanted to ensure that the Baroque music repertoire for string orchestra was sufficiently addressed in thei ...

and the Bremer Barockorchester. For several years, he has devoted himself to

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of Musical instrument, instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a Great chamber, palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music ...

with the Kuijken brothers, the Ricercar Consort and the Hantai brothers. Besides the baroque violin, Fernandez plays the

viola The viola ( , () ) is a string instrument of the violin family, and is usually bowed when played. Violas are slightly larger than violins, and have a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the ...

, the

viola d'amore The viola d'amore (; ) is a 7- or 6- stringed musical instrument with additional sympathetic strings used chiefly in the baroque period. It is played under the chin in the same manner as the violin. Structure and sound The viola d'amore shar ...

, the

viol The viola da gamba (), or viol, or informally gamba, is a bowed and fretted string instrument that is played (i.e. "on the leg"). It is distinct from the later violin family, violin, or ; and it is any one of the earlier viol family of bow (m ...

and the

cello da spalla The violoncello da spalla, known informally as the cello da spalla, is a small 5-string cello played braced against the shoulder. Its tuning is the same as the violoncello, with a fifth string added to the upper register, making the open string ...

. He has taught at the conservatories of Toulouse, Liège, Brussels and Trossingen. Since 1998, he has been teaching the baroque violin at the

Conservatoire de Paris The Conservatoire de Paris (), or the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (; CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue Jean Ja ...

. He regularly gives masterclasses in Belgium and Spain. In collaboration with other musicians,

Philippe Pierlot Philippe Pierlot (born 1958) is a Belgian viola da gamba player and a conductor in historically informed performance. He is also an academic teacher at the royal conservatories of The Hague and Brussels. Career Born in Liège, Pierlot learned t ...

and Rainer Zipperling (1955-), he founded the record label "Flora"Flora label
/ref> in 1991.

References

External links

Discography
(

Discogs Discogs ( ; short for " discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...

)
Bach, prelude partita n.3 in E Major BWV 1006, François Fernandez/baroque violin
(YouTube) {{DEFAULTSORT:Fernandez, Francois 1960 births Musicians from Rouen Living people Academic staff of the Conservatoire de Paris Academic staff of the Royal Conservatory of Brussels French performers of early music 20th-century French violinists 20th-century French male musicians French male classical violinists 21st-century French violinists 21st-century French male musicians

Career

See also

References

External links