Eduardo Fernández is recognized as one of today's leading guitarists. Born in 1952 in Uruguay, he began his studies of guitar at age 7. His principal teachers were Abel Carlevaro, Guido Santórsola and Héctor Tosar. After being prized in several international competitions, the most notable being the 1972 Porto Alegre (Brazil) and 1975 Radio France (Paris) competitions, he won the first prize of the 1975 Andrés Segovia Competition in Mallorca (Spain). His New York debut in 1977 won critical accolades, being described as "A top guitarist...Rarely has this reviewer heard a more impressive debut recital on any instrument" (Donal Henahan, The New York Times). Fernández has returned to the U.S.A. almost every season since then, playing with prestigious orchestras as well as giving recitals, always to great acclaim from critics and audiences. His London debut, in Wigmore Hall (1983), had also a great impact, and resulted in his signing an exclusive recording contract with Decca, a label for which he made 18 recordings (solos, and with the English Chamber Orchestra and the London Philharmonic), that cover a wide section of the repertoire, from Bach to the contemporary. They include many first recordings (for instance, Berio's "Sequenza XI" and Tosar's “Gandhara”), and several of them have been selected as "best of the month" and "best of the year" by publications such as Stereo Review and The New York Times, as well as Asahi Shinbun from Japan. He has also made a recording for Erato with violinist Alexander Markow, covering most of Paganini's work for violin and guitar, and three duo CDs with Japanese guitarist Shin-Ichi Fukuda (with whom he has also performed in the Far East. South America, and in Germany) for DENON, in Japan. Currently he is exclusive recording artist of the Oehms Classics label, for which he has recorded the complete lute suites by Bach and "Romantic Guitar" a 19th-century guitar recording on a period instrument, one CD of guitar music from South America, and an all-Giuliani CD, “Varie Idee Sentimentali”. He also recorded for Labor Records from USA, the CD "Between two worlds". Fernández has also played, with the same success, in most European countries, and in the Far East (Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Hong Kong and China, Thailand and Singapore), Australia and South Africa, as well as in South America and Mexico. He has a vivid interest in historical instruments, and he plays often the repertoire of the XIXth century on a period guitar. Eduardo Fernández is also active as a teacher, having taught several years at the University's School of Music in Montevideo, where he is now a fellow researcher, as well as being very much in demand for masterclasses and lectures all around the world. Since 2002 he has been conducting every year masterclasses in Germany ("Gitarre und Natur", Erlbach). He has written a major book on guitar technique (Technique, Mechanism, Learning, published by Chanterelle Verlag, Heidelberg and in Spanish edition by ART Ediciones, Montevideo), a book of essays on Bach's lute music, published in 2003 by ART Ediciones, and several articles in leading guitar publications. Currently he is preparing a work on the first generation of 19th-century guitarist-composers. Also an active composer, he was the secretary of the Uruguayan branch of ISCM for two years. He was also a founder of Uruguay's CIM/UNESCO section, and was artistic director of the short-lived Montevideo's biannual International Guitar Festivals (1996 to 2000). Currently he is artistic director of Colombia's Encuentros Nacionales de la Guitarra (sponsored by COMPENSAR) since 2000.
David Leisner is an extraordinarily versatile musician with a multi-faceted career as an electrifying performing artist, a distinguished composer, and a master teacher. “Among the finest guitarists of all time”, according to American Record Guide, David Leisner’s career began auspiciously with top prizes in both the 1975 Toronto and 1981 Geneva International Guitar Competitions. His recent seasons have taken him around the US, including his solo debut with the Atlanta Symphony, a major tour of Australia and New Zealand, and debuts and reappearances in China, Japan, the Philippines, Germany, Hungary, Switzerland, Austria, Denmark, Sweden, Ireland, the U.K., Italy, Czech Republic, Greece, Puerto Rico and Mexico. An innovative three-concert series at Weill Recital Hall in Carnegie Hall included the first all-Bach guitar recital in New York’s history, and currently he is the Artistic Director of Guitar Plus, a New York series devoted to chamber music with the guitar. He has also performed chamber music at the Santa Fe, Music in the Vineyards, Vail Valley, Rockport, Cape and Islands, Bargemusic, Bay Chamber, Maui, Portland, Sitka and Angel Fire Festivals, with Zuill Bailey, Tara O’Connor, Eugenia Zukerman, Kurt Ollmann, Lucy Shelton, Ida Kavafian, the St. Lawrence, Enso and Vermeer Quartets and many others. Celebrated for expanding the guitar repertoire, David Leisner has premiered works by many important composers, including David Del Tredici, Virgil Thomson, Ned Rorem, Philip Glass, Richard Rodney Bennett, Peter Sculthorpe and Osvaldo Golijov, while championing the works of neglected 19th-century guitar composers J.K. Mertz and Wenzeslaus Matiegka. A featured recording artist for Azica Records, Leisner has released 9 highly acclaimed CDs, including the most recent, Arpeggione with cellist Zuill Bailey, and Facts of Life, featuring the premiere recordings of commissioned works by Del Tredici and Golijov. Naxos produced his recording of the Hovhaness Guitar Concerto with Gerard Schwarz and the Berlin Radio Orchestra. Other CDs include the Koch recording of Haydn Quartet in D with the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival and Hovhaness Spirit of Trees for Telarc with harpist Yolanda Kondonassis. And Mel Bay Co. released a solo concert DVD called Classics and Discoveries. Mr. Leisner is also a highly respected composer noted for the emotional and dramatic power of his music. Fanfare magazine described it as “rich in invention and melody, emotionally direct, and beautiful”. South Florida Classical Review called him “an original and arresting compositional voice.” Recent commissioners include the baritone Wolfgang Holzmair, Arc Duo, Stones River Chamber Players (TN), Fairfield Orchestra (CT), Red Cedar Chamber Music (IA), and the Twentieth Century Unlimited Series (NM). Recordings of his works are currently available on the Sony Classical, ABC, Dorian, Azica, Cedille, Centaur, Town Hall, Signum, Acoustic Music, Athena and Barking Dog labels. The Cavatina Duo’s recording of his complete works for flute and guitar, Acrobats (Cedille) was released to exceptionally strong reviews. His compositions are mostly published by Merion Music/Theodore Presser Co., as well as AMP/G. Schirmer, Doberman-Yppan and Columbia Music. David Leisner is the co-chair of the guitar department at the Manhattan School of Music. Primarily selftaught as both guitarist and composer, he briefly studied guitar with John Duarte, David Starobin and Angelo Gilardino and composition with Richard Winslow, Virgil Thomson, Charles Turner and David Del Tredici. His book, Playing with Ease: a healthy approach to guitar technique, is published by Oxford University Press.