Fernando Otero's instrumental album entitled Enigma comprises eleven thematically-linked compositions for orchestra featuring guest soloists, choir, chamber ensembles and pipe organ. Once again, the pieces are conceptualized around the musical vocabulary of his native land, Buenos Aires, although this release manages to feel distinct from his previous work, in melodic content, instrumentation and form. Enigma showcases a full orchestral sound in the hands of the New York State Symphony Orchestra -recently founded in January 2016- conducted by Otero, who also plays pipe organ on four of the tracks. On previous albums and concerts Otero has showcased both the lyrical and the rhythmic aspects of his music. His works for piano and orchestra and his previous album Ritual, (nominated for Latin GRAMMY awards for Best Classical Album and Best Classical Contemporary Composition) are examples. On this latest release he emphasizes melody and orchestral textures rather than rhythmic prominence. The album begins with three pieces for violin and orchestra, written by Otero for his longtime collaborator, violinist Nick Danielson. Otero and Danielson have made more than ten albums together and performed worldwide, their last project being a live recording at the National Opera Center in New York in March 2015. Their new undertaking on Enigma is worthy of mention. Through his writing, Otero provides a weighty orchestral sound to support Danielson's interpretation, hefty yet characteristically lyrical. Rhythmic dynamism, one of the most relevant characteristics of the Otero oeuvre, appears on "Iris", with guitarist Brian Forbes giving support to an energetic violin and cello counterpoint while rising to a particular technical challenge. On "Jade,” a Bandoneon and Organ duet, bandoneonist Hector del Curto provides a fully Argentine aura with an emotive phrasing of Otero's melody, which uses a lyrical language easily identified with the tango genre.

Guest soloists include cellists Adam Fisher and Patricio Villarejo, clarinetist Ivan Barenboim, flutist Mariano Gil, percussionist Waldo Madera, soprano Maria Brodskaya and countertenor Resh, in lead roles accompanied by orchestra or pipe organ, and at times unaccompanied.

The album was produced by Ruben Parra, Brian Forbes and Fernando Otero and recorded in New York City in February 2016.

Enigma could be considered a reflection of Otero's personal desire for renewal and transformation. It doesn’t reveal every aspect of his instrumental work, especially since it finds him on pipe organ instead of piano and conducting an orchestra. One thing is certain: Enigma is the work of an artist in search of new techniques and challenging soundscapes.

Fernando Otero - Piano     Nick Danielson - Violin 

Compositions by Fernando Otero

published by Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp (BMI) & X-Tango Music (BMI)  

Recorded in New York  - 2016 - 2017 -

National Opera House -The Gallery Recording Studios - System Two Studios - 

Recording Engineers: Brian Forbes - Ruben Salas - Jeremy Gerard - Andrew Cavaciuti -

Mixed by Brian Forbes

Mastering by Ruben Parra

All pieces produced by Raniero Palm - Ruben Parra - Manuel Valdivia - Brian Forbes -  ©  2018  -  SIDERATA RECORDS

Ritual brings a collection of new compositions for Orchestra, Voices, and Chamber Ensembles. The composer appeared to be working more towards the production of formal classical works which display a significant grounding in Argentine lyricism -usually associated with Tango- plus elements of classical music and piano improvisation. This work features virtuosic 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.

In 2010 Fernando Otero received the Latin Grammy Award for Best Classical Album for Vital.

With Vital, Fernando Otero exhibits a chamber sensibility in an oeuvre where the idioms of Latin American, jazz, and European classical musics intertwine. The son of an opera singer and actor, Otero taps the tango of his native Buenos Aires less as a dance form than an attitude of modernist artistic curiosity. Now based in Brooklyn, Otero has found correspondingly diverse collaborators, among them Paquito D’Rivera, the Kronos Quartet, Eddie Gómez, Dave Valentin, the Chico O’Farrill Afro Cuban Jazz Orchestra, Dave Grusin and Quincy Jones. Featuring a palette of bandoneon, guitar, violin, cello, double bass, tenor sax, trumpet, trombone, and drums, Vital ranges from the romantic fullness of “Aguaribay” and “La abundancia”; to the exigent neo-tango sensibility of “Nocturno,” “Globalización,” “Siderata,” and “Danza”; and the eccentric chamber explorations of “Reforma mental,” “La casa vacia,” “Noche iluminada,” and “Fin de revision.” - Michael Stone

"Fernando Otero" is the eponymous debut studio album by Fernando, released in 1994. It was recorded at Ion Studios, Buenos Aires, with production by Pablo Lopez Ruiz, Manuel Valdivia and Fernando Otero. It contains the repertoire performed by Otero's sextet during the early nineties, which includes a suite dedicated to Astor Piazzolla , consisting of "En Apariencia" , "Psiconautica" and X-Tango. In this suite Otero evokes the compositional language of Piazzolla and invited two members from Piazzolla's ensembles, Fernando Suarez Paz on violin and Daniel Binelli on bandoneon.