Irene Fernández Mena began her musical studies at the age of five, and music has been a part of her life ever since. She started with piano, intonation and rhythm classes, and in a an environment dominated by keyboard and string instruments, she decided on the saxophone.
Her different projects have led her to perform in important concert venues nationally and internationally, both as a soloist and chamber musician, such as the Gran Teatro of Cáceres; Provincial Council of Badajoz; Auditorium of San Francisco in Avila; Royal Theater of San Lorenzo de El Escorial; San Blas Auditorium and Fonseca Auditorium in Salamanca; Infanta Leonor Theater, Darymelia Theater in Jaén; Viana Palace, Góngora Theater, San Hipólito Cultural Center in Córdoba; Maestro Padilla Auditorium, Cervantes Theater and Apolo Theater in Almería; Caja de Granada Theater and Isabel la Católica Theater in Granada; Cathedral of Jaén and Granada; Manuel de Falla Auditorium in Madrid; Notre-Dame Church and the Poitiers Auditorium.
Born in Jaén (South of Spain) she studied music at the professional conservatories of Córdoba and Jaén, concluding her studies at the Rafael Orozco Superior Music Conservatory of Córdoba, where she graduated with honors, special awards for her career, and with a brilliant academic record.
Her musical preparation is complemented by the valuable instrumental training of great and renowned saxophonists such as Arno Bornkamp, Claude Delangle, Jean Denis Michat, Nikita Zimin, Nobuya Sugawa, Jean-Yves Formeau, Gilles Tressos, Philippe Braquart, Masataka Hirano, Fabrizio Mancuso, Christian Wirth, Alexander Doisy, Philippe Lecocq, and others.
She has received various awards, including from the International Huelma Contest, where she also obtained a special mention from the jury.
In 2011 she continued her training at the University of Córdoba, this time in the pedagogical field, pursuing a master's degree in compulsory secondary education, and a baccalaureate in professional training and language teaching in person, specifically in the music field. Furthermore, her interest in the field of musical research led her to study the master's degree in musical heritage at the University of Granada and the University of Andalusia (UNIA). Her research studies on flamenco jazz for the saxophone, which obtained the highest marks, led her to give lectures at the University of Plasencia and the National University of Distance Education (UNED), to participate in research seminars and collaborate with magazines specialized in music and education.
In 2012, she joined the faculty of the prestigious Municipal Band of Jaén, developing her activity as a solo baritone saxophonist.
Since February 2013 , she has worked as a saxophone teacher in Plasencia, a public conservatory in Cáceres, after similar teaching positions in different municipal music schools. She has also collaborated as a teaching professor for the University of Cáceres, teaching courses in the master's degree programs, in the specialty of Music Education, as well as numerous conferences-concerts at the University of Extremadura. In 2017 she returned to her native Andalusia and joined the faculty at the Royal Professional Conservatory of Music of Almería.
During her time in Extremadura, and thanks to the sponsorship of the Cáceres county council, she has performed in numerous stages and cultural spaces such as the Gran Teatro o Cathedral in Cáceres, Mérida Theater, San Francisco Auditorium, Museum and Pérez Enciso Ethnographic-Museum Museum, as a soloist with the Cáceres Band, performing the concerts of Ronald Binge, Karel Husa or the Czardas of Pedro Iturralde; and on the other hand, carrying out her show Los Sonidos Ancestrales, a multidisciplinary recital in which the sounds of the saxophone are connected with different synesthetic facets through light and associated musical combinations.
An active chamber musician, she frequently collaborates with artists such as the guitarist Isabel Alcántara, with whom she has a saxophone-guitar duo that began in 2007 through the interpretation of works by Joaquín Rodrigo, Villa-Lobos, and Bartók. Later, this proposal continued with the Badajoz guitarist Carlos Almoril featuring works by Piazzolla and Pujol. Regarding the saxophone and piano, she has formed a musical duo with pianists María Isabel Rueda, Beatriz González and currently, with Lucía Moreno and Pilar Osado. She is also a member of the Ensemble Nacional Músax, an ensemble made up of nine female saxophonists, performing concerts throughout Spain.
Irene Fernández Mena is the saxophone professor at the "Manuel Castillo" Superior Conservatory of Music in Seville, Spain. Previously, she taught at the “Rafael Orozco” Superior Conservatory of Music in Córdoba. She has also received invitations to teach classes in different conservatories, such as the Cristóbal de Morales Professional Conservatory in Seville, the Carlos Ros de Guadix Professional Conservatory, and in different national and international musical institutions such as the Esteban Sánchez International Course.