Alfonso Marín, Alfred Fernández & Valeria Mignaco

Last Updated (Wednesday, 17 June 2009 20:08) Written by Jacob Wednesday, 11 February 2009 12:06

"The sweet and yet intense sonority of two “vihuelas” is the main ground of an ensemble that performs early repertoires from a subtle and intimate perspective.

El Canto del Caballero presents its performances as a musical and poetical space, unveiling the many nuances and timbric possibilities offered by two early plucked instruments and a voice.
In Europe during the XVI century, transcriptions of vocal polyphonic masterpieces were an important repertoire source for instruments such as the vihuela and the lute. In the Iberian Peninsula, vihuela players adapted pieces by the most notable composers of the time to their instrument. The intimate knowledge of such music encouraged a new way of approaching the repertoire; intimate feeling, subtlety and introspection were the main expressive and dynamic assets employed by the old vihuelists.
In that same spirit, El Canto del Caballero uses their own, as well as original transcriptions to devise their concert programmes."

Alfonso Marin began his musical studies in the “Conservatorio Superior de Tenerife” (Spain), and afterwards in the “Conservatorium van Amsterdam” were he continued his classical guitar and vihuela studies under Lex Eisenhardt.

From 1998 he devoted himself entirely to the study of early plucked instruments as the lute, theorbo and vihuela, continuing his studies in the same conservatory for five more years with the lutenist Fred Jacobs.

After his graduation he carried on with an intense concert activity as a soloist, vocal and instrumental accompanist as well as basso-continuo theorbo and archlute player in many Dutch renaissance and baroque ensembles, orchestras and choirs like “Les Perruques de Amsterdam”, “Arion ensemble”, “The Royal wind consort”, “Nieuwe Opera Academie (DNOA), “Alkaan Emsemble”, “Musica del Seicento”, “Doetinchemse Bach Vereniging”, "Amsterdam Symphonic Orchestra", "Concerto d'Amsterdam", "Barokensemble De Swaen" and "New caldara Ensemble Amsterdam"among others. With the Wolkenstein Ensemble he has performed medieval music in Holland and Germany.

His collaboration with the soprano Valeria Mignaco is one of his most rewarding and fruitful musical activities, having performed with her in numerous recitals and festivals in Holland, Germany, England, Belgium and Spain.

Alfred Fernández was born in 1970 in Barcelona, where he studied classical guitar with Jordi Codina, Manuel González and Fernando Rodríguez. Later on he specialized in the early plucked string instruments such as the lute, vihuela, baroque guitar, theorbo, etc. Formed mainly in a self-taught way, he has received guidance from prestigious masters such as William Waters, Rolf Lislevand, Paul O'dette and John Griffiths.
He has recorded three solo CDs all of wich have been highly acclaimed by several specialized magazines such as Répertoire, Le Monde de la Musique, Gramophone, Goldberg, Scherzo, Ritmo, Lute Society Magazine, etc. His latest CD has been awarded with the Répertoires 10R award and has been highly rated by many magazines. He has given solo concerts in Spain, The Netherlands, France, Germany, Brazil, United States, Belgium, Greece and Italy. Recently he gave a solo recital at the Utrecht Oude Muziek Festival. He directs the ensemble Silva de Sirenas.

Valeria Mignaco began her singing studies in Argentina and obtained her classical and baroque singing Masters degree at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, Holland. She participated in workshops and masterclasses with Gabriel Garrido, Gustav Leonhardt, Richard Egarr, Elly Ameling, Jill Feldman, Carolyn Watkinson and Margreet Honig.

Finalist of the International Baroque Singing Competition of the Chateau de Chimay 2004 and the International Young Artists Presentation in Anvers (with ensemble Via Artis), she also received an Honorable Mention at the Soloists Competition of the Flemish Early Music Festival in Brugge 2005. Her duo with Alfonso Marín had a Special Mention at the Alte Musik Treff, Berlin 2005.

She has perfomed as soloist amongst others with Bachkoor Holland and Concertgebouw Kamerorkest, Cappella Amsterdam, Monteverdikoor Utrecht, Orquesta de Cámara de Rosario and Pro Música Rosario under the direction of Gabriel Garrido, Paul van Nevel, Paul McCreesh, Daniel Reuss, Charles de Wolff, Jan Willem de Vriend, Daan Admiraal and Cristián Hernández Larguía .She also collaborates with well-known vocal ensembles like Cappella Amsterdam, Huelgas ensemble and Deutsche Kammerchor.

With ensemble Via Artis she participated in the Caixa Forum Early Music Festival (Barcelona 2005); with Alfonso Marín she performed in the Burgos Early Music Festival 2005, Festival A-de-vant-garde Munchen (2005) and Leicester Early Music Festival (2006), giving many concerts in Holland, Spain, Belgium, England, Portugal, Switzerland and Argentina.