Santiago Cañón-Valencia, cello @ The Athenaeum

In his first visit to San Diego, cellist Santiago Cañón-Valencia performs an exciting and varied solo program, ranging from Bach’s Second Suite to works from his latest album, Ascenso (2022, Sono Luminus), which includes original compositions and arrangements by the cellist himself. Cañón-Valencia is a 2022 BBC Next Generation Artist and winner of the silver medal and “audience favorite” at the 2019 Tchaikovsky International Competition. The Strad magazine describes him in performance as “technically flawless [and] totally under the skin of the composers’ idioms.”

Colombian cellist Cañón-Valencia is a prolific soloist, composer, commissioner, recording artist, painter, and photographer. He was born in Bogotá in 1995 and made his debut with the Orquesta Filarmónica de Bogotá at age 6 before going on to win the 2018 Starker Foundation Award, third prize at the 2017 Queen Elisabeth International Competition, and first prize at the Carlos Prieto International Cello Competition, among many other prizes.

Cañón-Valencia’s solo career has taken him around the world and he has recorded and released four commercial albums. He premiered Carlos Izcaray’s Stringmaster with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, Jorge Pinzón’s Cello Concerto at the Cartagena International Music Festival, and Gulda’s Cello Concerto with the Auckland Chamber Orchestra, and gave the Colombian premiere of Ginastera’s Cello Concerto No. 2.

Cañón-Valencia has been sponsored by the Mayra & Edmundo Esquenazi Scholarship through the Salvi Foundation since 2011.

This concert is generously co-sponsored by the Sleet Music Performance Fund.