Iago Fernández

Iago Fernández is a jazz drummer and composer from Cangas, Galicia (1987). He started his musical studies on classic percussion at the conservatory of his home town with the teacher Luís Carballo. His first contact with jazz was in the "Orquestra de jazz do Morrazo" (conducted by Luís Carballo) and also in the “Seminario Permanente de Jazz de Pontevedra (SPJP)” conducted by Abe Rábade and Paco Charlín, studying there for four years including master classes and concerts with international artists. In 2011 he was graduated with honors in the “Centro Superior de Música del País Vasco, Musikene” (jazz drums performance) where he took lessons from great masters such as Jorge Rossy, Perico Sambeat, Jo Krause, Albert Sanz, Guillermo Klein and Chris Kase among others. In 2018 he was selected for the prestigious Focusyear program (Jazzcampus Basel, Switzerland), were he rehearsed, learned and performed with other 6 musicians plus many incredible artists such as Norma Winston, Dave Liebman, Ambrose Akinmusire, Wolfgang Muthspiel and Guillermo Klein among others. Iago is currently based in Basel, where he has also graduated from a master's degree in jazz composition. 

Since the age of 18, Iago Fernandez has performed regularly at festivals and clubs in America, Asia and throughout Europe, especially in Switzerland, Germany, Spain and Portugal. He has shared the stage with artists such as Steve Nelson, David Binney, Mark Turner, Avishai Cohen (trumpet), Omer Avital, John Hébert, Logan Richardson, Perico Sambeat, Jesse van Ruller, Joris Roelofs, Ben Van Gelder, Greg Tardy, Masa Kamaguchi, Javier Colina, Albert Sanz, Jorge Rossy, Jeff Williams, Román Filiú, Andrzej Olejniczak, John O'Gallagher and Petros Klampanis among many others. Fernández can also be heard on more than 40 albums, four of them as bandleader and composer: "Agromando" (2011), "Acougo" (2015), "Brisa" (2016) and "Luzada" (2022, featuring Mark Turner, David Virelles, Ben Street and Joris Roelofs). Other projects currently include Yumi Ito, WIZ, Xan Campos Trio, Fernando Brox Quintet, Iannis Obiols Trio/Quartet and Nadav Erlich Quartet/Septet among others. 

Awards

In 2017 he got the price ‘Martín Códax’ as the best jazz project of the year in Galicia (Spain)

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