Born in Havana, Fernández began her formal musical studies with famed teacher César Pérez Sentenat, continuing later with María Jones de Castro at the Conservatorio Internacional in that city, She played several recitals between the ages of 11 and 16, and then debuted at the Teatro Nacional when she was sixteen years old.
With her brother José Pedro she came to the United States via Operation Peter Pan, arriving in 1961; their parents followed them nearly a year later.
During her career she has performed throughout the United States and Europe, appearing in such venues as the Concertgebouw Klein Zaal in Amsterdam, Reid Hall in Edinburgh, and the Brahmssaal of the Musikverein in Vienna.
A noted champion of piano music by Spanish and Latin American composers, she received the NEA Solo Recitalist Fellowship in 1989 and La Rosa Blanca from the Patronato José Martí (Los Angeles) in 1996.
[3] She served as the Dean of the Claire Trevor School of the Arts at the University of California, Irvine[1] from 2003 to 2008 before retiring.