Fernando Otero

In 2016, Otero put out another studio work entitled Enigma and was nominated for Best Classical Contemporary Composition for his piece "Jardin Del Adios". His album, Solo Buenos Aires came out in April 2017, in which Otero reconnects with the song form as vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, and arranger, comprising a collection of songs written during the first half of the 20th century in Buenos Aires, with arrangements for orchestra. This album won the Best Tango Album award at the 18th Latin Grammy Awards. Voxis the title of Otero's album released in 2018 along with long-time collaborator, violinist Nick Danielson. It contains music for solo piano, solo violin, and violin-piano duet. In this work, Otero's compositions reflect once again his style in terms of melodic, harmonic and rhythmical language, while the pianism exposes the need for technical proficiency. Many of his compositions require alternating left- and right-hand notes and chords, similar to a paradiddle, creating patterns with two or more melodies complementing each other.

Fernando Otero released Ritual in 2015, bringing a collection of new compositions for Orchestra, Voices Chamber Ensembles, and Solo Piano. The composer appeared to be working more towards the production of formal classical works which display a significant grounding in the Argentine lyricism, usually associated with tango, plus elements of classical music and piano improvisation. This work features vocal and violin lines, full orchestra textures and Otero's pianism. The album emphasizes melodic and slow tempos and the bandoneon is present in two of the pieces, driving the listener into an Argentine atmosphere, both timbrical and melodic. Otero received two Latin Grammy nominations for Ritual as Best Classical Album and Best Contemporary Classical Composition for his composition entitled "Connexion".

In 2014 he released the album entitled Prima Donna, an intimate celebration of the artistic career of Elsa Marval, Fernando Otero's mother and musical mentor. Elsa Marval was an internationally acclaimed Opera singer, composer, pianist and actress, who died in 2010. Prima Donna features pieces for solo piano, showing Otero's song-like melodic approach and his use of a wide palette of pianistic colors, and also his rhythmical side when performing fast tempo pieces, playing notes repeated with piston-like precision with sudden detours into more impressionistic textures. A rendition of "El Portenito" , a piece written by Argentine composer Angel Villoldo gives us an idea of how Otero can cover well-known compositions in order to expose his personal view of them. The album also includes orchestral and chamber music pieces plus a sonata for Solo Violin in one-movement using a wide palette of violin techniques, which Otero wrote for long-time collaborator Nick Danielson. In Prima Donna, Otero ratchets up the contemporary classical music elements that were already evident on his Warner Music album entitled Pagina de Buenos Aires (Nonesuch). The last piece in the recording is a rendition of Quincy Jones' composition "The Pawnbroker" arranged by Otero.

Otero's album Romance (Soundbrush Records) was released in 2013, and has been described as "an exhilarating surprise - a collection of beautifully crafted short pieces that are both jazzy and lyrical, brought to life by a superb ensemble of instrumentalists and singers".

In 2010 he received the Latin Grammy Award for Best Classical Album for Vital. In 2015 he was nominated for the Latin Grammy Award for "Best Classical Album" and for "Best Classical Contemporary Composition" for his album Ritual.

Otero 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, as he did in his Nonesuch debut, Pagina de Buenos Aires in 2008.

In January 2008 Otero released the album Pagina de Buenos Aires from Nonesuch Records. Critics describe the album as "[u]rbane and exotic, surreal and streetwise, and alive with invention and emotion".

In February 2008 the Kronos Quartet premiered "El Cerezo" ("The Cherry Tree") at Carnegie Hall, a one-movement work for string quartet commissioned from Otero that "blended tango-infused lyrical interludes into a sometimes dissonant canvas."

Shortly after moving to the U.S. in the 1990s, he worked with correspondingly diverse collaborators, including Paquito D'Rivera, the Kronos Quartet, Quincy Jones, Eddie Gómez, flautist Dave Valentin and pianist/film composer Dave Grusin. He played with Arturo O'Farrill's Jazz Orchestra at Symphony Space, Lincoln Center and during their Sunday night residency at New York City's Birdland, performing his compositions with this large jazz ensemble also at Lincoln Center and Symphony Space. He also performed with clarinetist Paquito D'Rivera on stage, at Birdland, Blue Note, the Caramoor Festival and in the recording studio. He joined the Paquito D'Rivera Quintet for the recording of Funk Tango, which includes Otero's composition Milonga 10. For Funk Tango, The Paquito D'Rivera Quintet received in 2008 the Grammy Award for Best Latin Jazz Album.

Fernando Otero (born 1 May 1972) is a Grammy-award-winning Argentine pianist, vocalist, and composer.