François Fernandez, whose parents were both musicians (Jazz and Classic), was born in Rouen in 1960.
While pursuing classic modern violin studies, he took up the baroque violin at the age of 11.
He studied with Sigiswald Kuijken in The Hague (Soloist Diploma, Royal Conservatory 1980) and soon became his teacher’s closest collaborator.
After entering aged 17, he became the concertmaster of La Petite Bande in 1986.
At the same time, he worked with the best baroque orchestras of the epoch, most often as leader or soloist: The Orchestra of the 18th Century (Frans Brüggen), La Chapelle Royale (Philippe Herreweghe), Melante 81 (Bob van Asperen) and Les Arts Florissants (William Christie).
For the last 20 years, François Fernandez has devoted himself to chamber music.
Not only as a violinist but also on violino piccolo, viola, viola d’amore, viola da gamba and violoncello da spalla.
As a chamber musician, he has participated worldwide at the most important festivals with the Ricercar Consort, the Kuijken brothers, the Hantaï brothers, Ryo Terakado, Glen Wilson, Yves Rechstainer, Marcel Ponseele, Boyan Vodénitcharov, Benjamin Alard, Enrico Gatti, Rainer Zipperling, Sophie Gent, and many other prominent musicians.
His solo recitals, most notably with the Sonatas and Partitas of Bach, were heard by international public, through internet live broadcast.
Moreover, he appears as a conductor; recently he was invited by Finnish Baroque Orchestra, Orquesta de Cámara Valdivia in Chile, Orchestre Baroque de Nice and Theater Aachen in Germany. Under his baton, Ricercar Consort won the prize from « La Nouvelle Académie du Disque » in France 1994, on the recording of Terpsichore Musarum by Praetorius.
His discography encompasses more than a 100 recordings, among them the complete of Bach was selected as « Best Classical CD of 2003 » by Prelude Klassiek in Nederland and the Sonatas of Leclair for Astrée-Auvidis-Naïve was rewarded « Editors Choice » by Grammophone, also « FFFF » by Télérama. On this CD, Diapason commented « Danse après danse, le violon hyper-sensible de François Fernandez manifeste une vocalité exemplaire ».
In 2002, François Fernandez founded the recording label FLORA with Philippe Pierlot and Rainer Zipperling.
He had taught at Conservatoire Régional de Toulouse and Musikhochschule Trossingen, in Santiago(Chile), in Taipei(Taiwan) and in Helsinki (Finland). Since 1998, he has been teaching at Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris and in 2009 became the successor of Sigiswald Kuijken at Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel. Since 1998, every summer, he gives courses in Daroca, Spain.
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