"Otero’s approach pushes tango into the future"
The New York Times

"Mr. Otero’s writing vibrantly summoned tango ancestors while also acknowledging Bartok and Prokofiev. His brilliant playing bore traces of jazz pianists like Bill Evans and Don Pullen. The resulting synthesis proposed bold new directions for a venerable tradition."
The New York Times

“Otero is a seriously talented pianist, and his orchestrations are equal parts Bernard Herrmann and Charlie Parker. That is, they alternate between jagged suspenseful crescendos and long, sinuous melodies. This music bounds out of the speakers and leaps into every corner of the room at once, exhilarating but also bewildering”
Jazziz Magazine

"Using resources that range from chamber ensembles to a 25-strong orchestra, Otero creates a distinctive and unusual sound that's close to classical music (Bartók, Crumb, Adams), yet with the vigour and improvised spirit you associate with jazz and world music....a savage intensity that sweep the listener away."
The Guardian, London

Fernando Otero Quintet:
"They offered sizzling interpretations of sultry and rhythmically vibrant works by the pianist and composer Fernando Otero in a segment called “Tango Argentina!”
The New York Times

Press Kit
Press Kit PDF
Critical Acclaim
Press Photos

Fernando Otero website

Media

Video Playlist

La Vista Gorda (sextet)
Until the Dawn, with Josefina Scaglione


 Sublevados (Dance Scene)
  A- Preludio 19/ Milonga 10

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"... a potent set from a tango radical... Otero’s writing vibrantly summoned tango ancestors while also acknowledging Bartok and Prokofiev." New York Times

Latin Grammy Award Winner for Best Classical Album, Fernando Otero is a pianist, multi-instrumentalist, bandleader and composer of tremendous talent, skill, depth and passion. In addition to Vital, his 2010 Grammy-winning CD, Otero's discography spans the last decade with another nine critically acclaimed recordings. The very latest of these, titled Romance (Soundbrush Records) elicted this from The New York Times: "Mr. Otero’s approach pushes tango into the future by blending early-20th-century European classical music and avant-garde jazz with some of tango’s folk precursors into a style he refers to as “X Tango.”  [more]

As a soloist, a collaborator, leading his quintet or larger ensemble, Otero's musical vision incorporates jazz, classical and tango elements. Writing about a recent performance, the New York Times focused on both his style, and its exceptional execution: "Mr. Otero’s writing vibrantly summoned tango ancestors while also acknowledging Bartok and Prokofiev. His brilliant playing bore traces of jazz pianists like Bill Evans and Don Pullen. The resulting synthesis proposed bold new directions for a venerable tradition."

And about Vital, Audiophile Audition discusses the intersections along Otero's musical journey by commenting: "Argentine pianist-composer Otero infuses all his piano music with the dramatic spirit of his country’s tango, even though the instrumentation (aside from the single bandoneon in a couple selections) isn’t what one usually hears in a tango ensemble. At the same time his works share a classical chamber music orientation, as well as passages of jazz improvisation. In a way Otero is taking the tango-based symphonic music of Piazzolla into the chamber music area, but with a bow to more avant contemporary composers than Piazzolla favored. Some of these pieces would fit well into a concert of works by Bartok, Ligeti or Crumb."