Download printable version here
Carlo Fierens was born in Finale Ligure, Italy. He started studying guitar with his father Guillermo, an internationally celebrated guitarist. He later obtained the Diploma at the Conservatory for Music in Alessandria, with the highest scores (10 cum laude) and his Master degree in Guitar at the Trento Conservatory, always with the highest scores and special mention. He began his performing career at an early age and started to participate in both national and international competitions, obtaining more than ten first prizes. His awards include the 1 st prize at the International Guitar Competition“Alirio Diaz” in Rome, 1st prize at the international competition “Italian Festival” (chairman: M° Marcello Abbado), 1st prize at the Matinee Musicale competition, Indianapolis.
He was also finalist at the International Music Prizes Competition (USA), and thanks to the high artistic value of his performance he was awarded with the title and grade of “Honorary Associate of The National Academy of Music”.
In 2013, he won the “Italian National Prize for the Arts”, a prize awarded by the Ministry of Education to the best music student of the year, among all conservatories and schools of music.
He also took part in many guitar festivals in Europe (Italy, Spain, Austria and Germany) where he had the possibility to visit master-classes and have lessons with famous guitarists such as Roberto Aussel, Pablo Marquez, Eliot Fisk, Paul Galbraith and others.
He has performed across America, Europe, and Asia, in prestigious venues such as Kennedy Center in Washington (USA), Academy Hall of the Baptist University in Hong-Kong, Munetsugu Hall in Nagoya (Japan), Museo Metropolitano de Buenos Aires (Argentina), Museu Villa-Lobos in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Teatro San Babila di Milano, Sala delle crociere in Roma (Italy), Arno Babajanyan Music Hall in Erevan (Armenia).
The music critic of the italian newspaper La Stampa selected him for his feature dedicated to young italian talents and wrote: “Fierens well captures contrasts, sudden changes of writing, returning a rich sound, now bitter, now sweet, in a phrase and a “breath” of the time of execution already very aware.” He was featured in TV and Radio such as the RAI national Italian TV, Radio Nacional Argentina, National Polish Radio, Taiwanese National Radio, and National Public Radio of Armenia.
He graduated from the University of Cremona (BA and MA degrees in musicology) with the highest mark and “summa cum laude”. There he also played many times in lesson-concerts. As a musicologist he was invited to make lectures for the “Rossini” musical association in Savona and wrote several articles and essays mainly on guitar music and contemporary composers. In 2010 he has won a scholarship to study at the Paul Sacher Stiftung in Basel (Switzerland) where he has completed a research on contemporary guitar repertoire, and in 2011 he studied at the University of Denver – Lamont School of Music with Ricardo Iznaola and Jonathan Leathwood, with a full-ride scholarship. He was Performing Assistant at the Bowdoin International Music Festival (ME).
His first CD released for Da Vinci Records was very well received: “Fierens plays this challenging pieces perfectly with his solid technique. [He] skillfully expresses the lyricism and unique harmony of Beaser’s variations. We can feel his great ablity in this live CD.” (Gendai Guitar Magazine, Japan), and now he is working on his next recording project for the same label, featuring the complete works for solo guitar by French Romantic composer Napolecon Coste, played on an authentic historic instrument.
He is full-time guitar professor at the “Gesualdo da Venosa” National Conservatory in Potenza, Italy.
Carlo Fierens plays Mario Garrone guitars and is proud endorser of Aquila strings and Concerto Carbon Cases.