About me

Fermín Rodríguez - Músico, Violista

Hello! I am Fermín, violist musician.

I began my musical studies with the support of my family and my first teachers: Alicia Swords, Alban Usatch, Rie Watanabe, Alexis Diaz, Pedro “Sangeet” Wood and Rafael Nava Curto. I graduated from University of Sciences and Arts of Chiapas (UNICACH in spanish) studying viola with professor Noelia Gómez González. Also received chamber music and viola masterclasses with Elías Morales Cariño, Rocío Orozco, Ludovica Mosca, Laura Esnaola, Luis Llácer, Brendan Conway, Peter Schmidt, Vladan Kočí, Cyrille Purro, Germán Bringas and Roberto Peña Sommer. In theoretical music, had the support of Félix Rodríguez, Pilla Piano, Ciro Liberato, Claudia Herrerías, Salatiel Cruz, Bulmaro Ruiz, Sven Merzbach and Douglas Bringas.

I participated in the UNICACH Symphony Orchestra with director Rafael Nava Curto (2007-2009). Have collaborated on art projects by pianist Alexis Díaz López and saxophonist Pedro Wood (2007-2010), in the “San Cristobal de Las Casas Youth Orchestra” (2012-2013) with the direction of Alexis, and in the UNICACH String Camerata (2010-2014). Also I joined to science workshops, a diploma in education at Educreando (2009) and the Pedagogy Workshop of the teacher Rie Watanabe (2018).

In August 2015 I participated with original music on the staging of “Fragments of a foggy day” (Fragmentos de un día de niebla in spanish), by Actress and Director Alicia Zarate. Later she invited me to make music for the cast credits of the short film version of “A Rainy Day” (Un día de lluvia) released in 2019.

I participated as soloist in the International Cervantino-Baroque Festival at San Cristóbal de Las Casas in 2018. In 2020 the video “The viola, from the music of New Spain to Chiapas folklore” was published with a grant from the State Council for Cultures and the Arts of Chiapas (CONECULTA by its acronym in spanish), and in 2021 I gave a conference on the same topic at the Francisco I. Madero auditorium in the city of Tuxtla Gutiérrez.

I worked on the Introductory Course for Children (Curso de Iniciación Musical, CIM) of the UNICACH Faculty of Music from 2015 to 2023 giving violin, viola, orchestral set and as an academic advisor. I gave violin, viola classes, musical initiation and directed the Arcos Orchestra of the Chiapas-Japan Cultural Alliance (founded and coordinated by professor Rie Watanabe).

I had the opportunity to collaborate with Elena and Miguel Muñoz Ruiz, the ‘Café con Pan’ orchestra, Felipe Cruz Contreras, Daniel Zapata Mejía, Omar de La Cruz Courtois, Daniela Pinzón, Areli Cruz and ‘Los Thompsons’ rock band.

Furthermore I really enjoy visual arts, physics and astronomy.