Cellist Santiago Cañón-Valencia Will Perform in Recital With Pianist Victor Santiago Asuncion

Colombian-born cellist Santiago Cañón-Valencia will perform in recital with pianist Victor Santiago Asuncion at The Phillips Collection in Washington D.C. on Sunday, October 27, 2024 at 4:00pm. The two artists combine for a program showcasing their shared passion for collaborating with living composers and championing lesser-known works, highlighting music by contemporary composers John Psathas and Arturo Márquez alongside selections by Duparc, Debussy, Schnittke and Stravinsky. The performance will be live-streamed, with viewing instructions available at: www.phillipscollection.org/music.

The program opens with Duparc's work Lamento, followed by Debussy's Sonata in D minor and Psathas' works Halo, Red Halo, Stacia and Angelus. In the program's second half, Cañón-Valencia and Asuncion open with Schnittke's Suite in the Old Style, followed by Márquez' work Lejanía Interior. The program concludes with Stravinsky's Suite Italienne.

On the inspiration behind the program, Cañón-Valencia said the selected works reflect both personal associations and his values as a performer. "When I'm creating a recital program it is always important to me to include either new or little-known works, and I like to build an original program around these unique pieces," he said. "I have a personal connection to these two contemporary works, Psathas' Halo and Marquez's Lejanía Interior, which makes them particularly special to me:

"Psathas' Halo was a piece that was commissioned for cellist James Tennant (my teacher of six years during my time living and studying in New Zealand and pianist Katherine Austin, James' partner with whom I performed extensively during my time in New Zealand. They released the first recording of Halo in 2020, and I absolutely loved the piece, so I am very happy to be able to perform it myself now!

"Marquez's Lejanía Interior was a piece that was commissioned for the 2006 Carlos Prieto International Cello Competition in México. Most of the time, commissioned pieces for music competitions tend to be forgotten after being performed; however, I remember having this feeling of familiarity while learning Lejania Interior and I have enjoyed continuing to perform it since the competition."

Besides being an exceptional soloist, Cañón-Valencia is a prolific composer, commissioner, recording artist, painter and photographer described as "technically flawless... totally under the skin of the composers' idioms" (The Strad). Born in Bogotá in 1995, he made his orchestral debut as a soloist at age six 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). Among his highlights this season, he performs at the BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists weekend on October 19 and 20, 2024, and with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Martyn Brabbins, on December 10, 2024. The 2024-2025 season also takes him to engagements in Spain, Germany, Belgium, Canada and across the United States.

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