Horacio Fernández

- If you are thinking about performing "Tumbao", don't be afraid to program separate movements. This work was conceived to emmulate the feeling of a Latin music playlist in a dance club, with several different songs styles and genres playing one after the other. Therefore, performing the whole piece is NOT necessary.  

- The original Chamber Orchestra version was premiered on October 15, 2019 at 8:00 pm in room 309 at The Juilliard School. It was performed by an orchestra created by Horacio Fernández with friends and colleagues and conducted by Kyle Ritenauer.

- It was written specifically to win the Juilliard Orchestra competition, after an unsuccessful attempt during Horacio's freshman year with his former student work "Movement".

- It won Juilliard's Orchestral Composition Competition, resulting in a premiere with the Juilliard Orchestra, conducted by Maestro Jeffrey Milarsky on February 20th, 2020, just 2 weeks before the COVID pandemic started.

- This performance drew some controversy within the composition department. The guidlines for the competition called for a previously un-premiered work and Tumbao had arguably already been premiered by the student orchestra formed by the composer. The department made an exception because the concert was not open to the public, it was only available for the Juilliard community.

- As of October of 2024, Tumbao has become Horacio's most successful composition with dozens of performances around the world including the Syrian National Symphony Orchestra, the Cuban Symphony Orchestra, Oregon Symphony, Chelesea Symphony among many others. 

- Tumbao became Horacio's Opus No. 1 in 2024 after signing a Publishing Deal with Boosey & Hawkes and Earshot Publishing.