Bernard Fieschi was taught to play the guitar by his father, Jean Fieschi, and rapidly proved to be an extremely gifted pupil. He continued his musical education at the Strasbourg Conservatoire of Music with Philippe Meunier, and then at the Higher National Conservatoire of Music in Paris, where he obtained First Prize under Alexandre Lagoya. He then worked with John Williams at the International Guitar Meetings organised by Robert Vidal. One of the most beautiful tributes ever made to his talent as a musician was by Andrès Segovia who, after attending one of Fieschi's concerts, wrote to express his admiration for “the degree of technical and musical perfection he had achieved with the guitar, as well as his interpretation”. In parallel to his career as a concert performer and accompanist (including for Mady Mesplé), Bernard Fieschi was 1975-2005 Professor of Music at the National Regional Conservatoire in Strasbourg. One of his better known pupils was Cary Greisch. He had to retire in 2005 for health reasons (Parkinson) and went back to his birthplace. He also gave concerts as member of the TRIO FONTANA together with Mariano Martin (guitar) and Pasqualino Frigau (baritone, ocarina). He tranbscribed many pieces for the guitar (orchestral works) and the piano (Bach, Offenbach, Ravel) and furthermore composed numerous pieces of music for the guitar, including Cahiers d'Études brèves, 14 Petits Préludes (op. 1), 7 Petits Préludes (op. 56), Thalassa (op. 46), and Musique pour une belle histoire (op. 70).
(Rainer Stelle)