SERGIO CARDENAS




Symphony orchestra conductor and music composer Sergio Cardenas is the only mexican musician (born in Cd. Victoria, Mexico in 1951) who has been Music Director and Principal Conductor of symphony orchestras of Austria, Germany and Mexico. His music compositions have been performed with enorm success in Austria, Belgium, Egypt, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Poland and the United States. He has guest-conducted most of the major orchestras of Europe, America, Africa and Asia.



In 1997 and 1998 Mr Cardenas was artist in Residence at Canadas prestigious Banff Centre for the Arts. He has been distinguished with the Bela-Bartok-Medal, of the Hungarian republic; with the Lilli-Lehmann-Medal, of the International Mozarteum Foundation (Salzburg, Austria); with the Alumni Merit Award of Westminster Choir College (Princeton, N. J., USA) and with the Golden-Laurel-to-Excellence, confered by the Same Out Group of Barcelona, Spain.



Academic studies



- Bachelor of Music, cum laude, Westminster Choir College, Princeton, N. J., USA., 1972.

- Master of Music (Choral Conducting), Westminster Choir College, Princeton, N.J. USA., 1973.

- Diploma in Orchestral Conducting, summa cum laude, Hochschule for Musik und darstellende Kunst Mozarteum (today called Mozarteum Music University), Salzburg, Austria, 1975.

- Graduate Studies in Music Composing (Malcolm Williamson, Gerhard Wimberger) and Performance Practices of Baroque Music (Nikolaus Harnoncourt), Westminster Choir College (Princeton, USA) and Hochschule Mozarteum (Salzburg, Austria), 1973-1977.

- Master Courses in Orchestral Conducting given by Carl Melles-Herbert von Karajan (Salzburg, 1974), Witold Rowicki (Vienna, 1975) and Sergiu Celibidache (Trier, Germany, 1977).



Positions held as Music Director and/or Principal Conductor



1986-1997: Queretaros Philharmonic, Mexico (founded as Bajio

Philharmonic)

1985-1989: Hof Symphony Orchestra, Hof, Germany

1979-1984: National Symphony Orchestra, Mexico City, Mexico.

1975-1979: Symphony Orchestra of the Mozarteum Music University,

Salzburg, Austria



The voice of the critics



Mr. Cardenas way of conducting demands from his musicians the common forming breath with a totally organized precision of the musical moment, a fact that should be in its style an example worthwhile following (Salzburger Nachrichten, Austria)



Mr. Cardenas conducted the cantabile passages of Brucknes Seventh Symphony extremely expressive and strove everytime towards the climax with a greater intensity. (Haller Tagblatt, Germany)



Also in Schuberts Great C-major Symphony did Mr. Cardenas not only proved his well known musicality but beyond that also the high degree of development he has borught it to. (Hofer Anzeiger, Germany).



Mexican conductor Sergio Cardenas kept loyal to the score of Strauss Till Eulenspiegel and enjoyed himself with the Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra, to the delight of the Gewandhaus audience. (Leipziger Volkszeitung, Germany)



Mr Cardenas makes ample use of remarkably heretogeneous styles, from a laid back jazz to the strictest fugue, handling each with remarkable mastery. (Michael Thumser, Hof, Germany).



Amidst enlightened dimness, Mr. Cardenas music embodies an admirable blend of tradition and modernity all the way through ist dramatic sound discourse. (Jose Antonio Alcaraz, Mexico City, Mexico)



What is for sure is that Mr. Cardenas has created works which exert a powerful attraction on the listener, irresistibly inviting him to share in their richness and generosity. (Claudio Maria Perselli, Florence, Italy).