Cellist Santiago Cañón-Valencia and Pianist Naoko Sonoda Release Debut Single, 'Arvo Pärt's Fratres'

Colombian cellist Santiago Cañón-Valencia and Japanese-born pianist Naoko Sonoda released a new digital single, Arvo Pärt: Fratres, on Deutsche Grammophon. The release marks Cañón-Valencia's debut recording on Deutsche Grammophon.

Arvo Pärt's Fratres ("Brethren") dates from 1977 and is an early example of the meditative, mystical style he was developing at the time, known as tintinnabuli (after the Latin word for "bells"). It has since been adapted for many different instruments, including this pairing of cello and piano. Pianist Naoko Sonoda provides the harmonic structure around which Colombian cellist Santiago Cañón-Valencia weaves the melodic line, in a performance of enormous technical dexterity and emotional depth.

Deutsche Grammophon releases a new Musical Moments edition every other week. The Musical Moments series refers to the concept of memories or reflections, a retrospect of the past or an anticipation of the future, that are enriched by hearing or thinking of a special piece of music in that same moment.

About Santiago Cañón-Valencia

Colombian cellist Santiago Cañón-Valencia is a prolific soloist, composer, commissioner, recording artist, painter and photographer described as "technically flawless... totally under the skin of the composers' idioms" (The Strad). Named a BBC Next Generation Artist in 2022, Cañón-Valencia was born in Bogotá in 1995 and made his orchestral debut as a soloist when he was six years old with the Orquesta Filarmónica de Bogotá, blossoming into an accomplished musician praised as "an artist from whom sound and texture flow with ease and authenticity" (The Whole Note) and "one of the most promising young cellists" (Forbes Colombia).

After a summer of recitals in the U.K., Germany, Italy, and Spain, Cañón-Valencia launches his 2024-2025 season with the Camerata Pacifica on a California tour with Paul Huang and Gilles Vonsattel. He performs as a featured soloist across Europe, including concerts with the Orchestra of Extremadura led by Juan Pablo Valencia in Spain and the Niederbayerische Philharmonic conducted by Ektoras Tartanis in Germany. In North America, he returns to the Phoenix Symphony with conductor Julian Rachlin and Symphony Nova Scotia with conductor Holly Mathieson in Halifax, Canada. He also makes his debut in a recital presented by The Phillips Collection with pianist Victor Asunción in Washington, D.C.

Cañón-Valencia's 2023-2024 season highlights included his debut at London's Wigmore Hall and Seoul Philharmonic, a St. George's Bristol recital with pianist Naoko Sonoda, and a debut with the Belgrade Philharmonic. He appeared at New Generation Artist Showcase concerts and broadcasts with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Ulster Orchestra. In the U.S., he performed at the International Cello Institute, San Diego's Athenaeum Music & Arts Library, Massachusetts's Shalin Liu Performance Center, and the Alabama Symphony. He featured at the Mostly Cello Festival in South Korea before returning to Colombia for concerts celebrating his album, Ascenso, and a performance with the National Symphony Orchestra of Colombia. In the summer of 2024, he celebrated the 100th birthday of Janos Starker in LOTTE Concert Hall with Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra in South Korea and Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Japan.

Among his many accolades, Cañón-Valencia was Silver Medalist and "Audience Favorite" at the 2019 XVI International Tchaikovsky Competition; recipient of the 2018 Starker Foundation Award; Third Prize honoree at the 2017 Queen Elisabeth International Competition; First Prize winner at the Carlos Prieto International Cello Competition, Beijing International Music Competition, Gisborne International Music Competition and Lennox International Young Artists Competition; and a significant prize-winner of the Sphinx, Casals, Johansen, Cassadó, and Adam Competitions.

Cañón-Valencia's international solo career has taken him around the world to perform with such orchestras as the Mariinsky Orchestra with Valery Gergiev, Frankfurt Radio Orchestra with Christoph Eschenbach, Brussels Philharmonic with Stephane Deneve, SWR Symphonieorchester with Andris Poga, Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra with Nikolai Alexeev, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Antwerp Symphony with Muhai Tang and Moscow Soloists Chamber Orchestra with Yuri Bashmet, as well as all of the major orchestras in his native Colombia.

Passionate about collaboration with living composers, Cañón-Valencia performed the world premiere of Carlos Izcaray's commissioned cello concerto Stringmaster as the featured soloist with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra. He gave the Colombian premiere of Ginastera's Cello Concerto No. 2 with the National Symphony Orchestra of Colombia, premiered Jorge Pinzón's Cello Concerto "Rapsodia a los 4 Elementos" at the Cartagena International Music Festival, and premiered Friedrich Gulda's Cello Concerto in Auckland, New Zealand with the Auckland Chamber Orchestra.

As a recording artist, Cañón-Valencia enjoys immersing himself in known and unknown works, particularly in commissioning new pieces, arranging and composing. His latest recording, Ascenso, released in November 2022 on Sono Luminus, showcases pieces arranged and written by himself, plus works commissioned and written for him by contemporary Colombian composers. Earlier recordings include his acclaimed debut release Solo, an album with pianist Andrea Lucchesini dedicated to Schubert and Beethoven for the Egea Label and an album of Russian cello sonatas and popular pieces from the cello repertoire with pianist Katherine Austin for the Atoll label.

Cañón-Valencia's primary musical mentors have been Henryk Zarzycki in Colombia, James Tennant in New Zealand, Andres Diaz in the United States and Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt at the Kronberg Academy in Germany. He has been sponsored by the Mayra & Edmundo Esquenazi Scholarship through the Salvi Foundation since 2011.

Learn more at www.santiagocanonvalencia.com.

About Naoko Sonoda
Japanese-born pianist Naoko Sonoda is a prize-winner of several international piano and chamber music competitions, including those in Argento and Trieste (Italy), as well as the Łódź Competition (Poland). Solo and chamber music concert invitations have taken her throughout Europe, Asia, US and South America and to festivals such as Schleswig-Holstein Festival, Meckle-Vorpommern and Verbier Festival. Chamber music partners include Santiago Cañón Valencia, Hartmut Rohde, Mark Gothoni, Danjulo Ishizaka, Jens-Peter Maintz, and Andrei Ionita. She has performed with such renowned orchestras as the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, and has been heard in world-class venues, most notably the Berliner Philharmonie in Germany, Mariinsky Theatre Concert Hall in St.Petersburg, Teatro Mayor in Bogota and Carnegie Hall in NY.

Ms. Sonoda is in high demand as a collaborative pianist; she received prizes as best collaborative pianist at the International Music Competition in Markneukirchen (2013, 2019 ), the Lutosławski International Cello Competition in Warsaw (2015, 2018), and the XV International Tchaikovsky Competition (2015, 2019). Her performances are regularly broadcast on international radio and TV, including Kulturradio RBB, ZDF and BR in Germany, NPO Radio 4 in Netherlands, Radio Romania, NHK-FM in Japan and the BBC.

Ms. Sonoda studied with Yoko Okumura, Seiko Ezawa and Mikhail Voskresensky at the Toho Gakuen School of Music, before studying at the Universität der Künste in Berlin with Rainer Becker. She also studied chamber music with Tabea Zimmermann, Markus Nyikos and Natalia Gutman.

She has taken masterclasses with Hans Leygraf, Ferenc Rados, Klaus Hellwig, Pascal Devoyon and Jacques Rouvier. After graduating, Naoko was engaged by the Universität der Künste in Berlin, the Hochschule für Musik Hanns-Eisler Berlin and the Franz Liszt Musikhochschule in Weimar as a collaborative pianist. Learn more at www.naokosonoda.com.

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