Renowned violinist, concertmaster, conductor, teacher and violist, Andrés Cárdenes brings to his performing the passion and the dedication of a master musician. Cuban-born Cárdenes has garnered international acclaim from both critics and audiences alike for his ferocious technique balanced by a remarkable tonal subtlety. Since capturing 2nd Prize in the 1982 Tchaikovsky International Violin Competition in Moscow, Cárdenes has appeared with over 100 orchestras on five continents, including those of Moscow, Pittsburgh, Saint Louis, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Houston, Helsinki, Caracas, Barcelona, Brussels and Shanghai. He has collaborated with such noted conductors as Lorin Maazel, Mariss Jansons, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Leonard Slatkin, André Previn, David Zinman, Charles Dutoit, Gerard Schwartz and the late Eduardo Mata. A frequent recitalist, Cárdenes has performed in many of the world's leading cultural centers including New York, Washington, D.C., Paris, London, Mexico City and Moscow.
Cárdenes has been an active teacher for nearly 25 years, beginning with his appointment to the faculty of Indiana University in 1979. A former student and protégé of the legendary Josef Gingold, he has continued the legacy and discipline of the master pedagogue as University Professor of Music at Carnegie Mellon University, where he holds the Dorothy Richard Starling and Alexander C. Speyer, Jr. Chair. In addition, Cárdenes has given master classes at virtually every leading music institution in the United States.
A champion of contemporary composers, Cárdenes has commissioned, premiered and/or recorded many works from composers such as André Previn, Leonardo Balada, Ramiro Cortés, Eduardo Alonso-Crespo, Ricardo Lorenz, Edgar Meyer, Rodion Shchedrin, Mariana Villanueva, Elbert Lechtman and Thomas Oboe Lee. Recent world premieres include David Stock's Violin Concerto and Roberto Sierra's Evocacíones, both with the Pittsburgh Symphony.
A dedicated chamber musician, Cardenes has toured with the Lincoln Center Chamber Society and has appeared in concert with Edgar Meyer, Pinchas Zuckerman, Jaime Laredo, Cho-Liang Lin, Lynn Harrell, Menahem Pressler, and Mark O'Connor. Cárdenes is a member of the renowned Carnegie Mellon Piano Trio, which has toured extensively throughout the United States. In 1996 he was appointed violinist of The Diaz Trio, which holds a summer residence at the Brevard Music Center.
Since the 1999-2000 season, Cárdenes has held the post of Artistic Director of the Nuance series featuring the Pittsburgh Symphony Chamber Orchestra, an ensemble created especially for his talents, where he plays and conducts concerts in the Pittsburgh area.
Mr. Cárdenes is in growing demand as a conductor. He has appeared with the San Diego Symphony, OFUNAM Orchestra of Mexico City, the Fundacíon Beethoven Orchestra in Santiago, Chile, and the CMU Chamber Orchestra. He makes his European debut in 2004 with the Bavarian Radio Orchestra and the Neue Philharmonie Westfalen.
Andrés Cárdenes can be heard performing the Arensky and Tchaikovsky Piano Trios with cellist Jeffrey Solow and pianist Mona Golabek on the Delos label, a recording that received a Grammy nomination in 1991. Arabesque Recordings has released Saint-Saëns' Sonatas for Violin and Piano with pianist Doris Stevenson and It's Peaceful Here, a rare collection of 19 short recital pieces for violin and piano with Chilean pianist Luz Manriquez. In 1997 Ocean Records released Made in the USA, a compilation (chosen and performed by Cárdenes) of short pieces for violin by American composers, past and present. Gramophone Radio Chart named it one of the year's best classical releases. In mid-2004, Ocean will release A Cuban Blues Man, Cárdenes' first jazz crossover recording, on which he plays works written especially for him by composer and pianist jazz great, Mike Garson, who appears on the recording. Cárdenes can be heard on the Sony Classical, RCA, ProArte, Naxos, Melodya, Telarc and Enharmonic labels.
Cárdenes is founder of the Culver City Chamber Orchestra in California where he serves as Music Director and Advisor. A Cultural Ambassador for UNICEF from 1980 to 1991 and an indefatigable spokesperson for the Arts, Andrés Cárdenes has received numerous awards for his teaching, performances, recordings, and humanitarian efforts, most notably from the cities of Los Angeles and Shanghai and the Mexican Red Cross. He was named Pittsburgh Magazine's 1997 Classical Artist of the Year, and he received the 2001 "Shalom" Award from Kollel's International Jewish Center for promoting world harmony and peace through music.
Cárdenes was appointed Concertmaster of the Pittsburgh Symphony by Maestro Lorin Maazel in 1989 and holds the Rachel Mellon Walton endowed Concertmaster Chair. He is married to violinist and music educator Monique Mead, and they have a baby daughter, Isabel-Annik.
