SERGIO   CÁRDENAS

 curriculum vitae

 

Symphony orchestra conductor and music composer Sergio Cárdenas  is the only mexican musician (born in Cd. Victoria, México 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 Cárdenas was ‚Artist in Residence‘ at Canada’s 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 für 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:   Queretaro‘s Philharmonic, Mexico (founded as Bajío

                             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. Cárdenas‘ 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. Cárdenas conducted the cantabile passages of Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony extremely expressive and strove everytime towards the climax with a greater intensity. (Haller Tagblatt, Germany)

 

Also in Schubert’s Great C-major Symphony did Mr. Cárdenas 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 Cárdenas 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 Cárdenas 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. Cárdenas‘ music embodies an admirable blend of tradition and modernity all the way through ist dramatic sound discourse. (José Antonio Alcaraz, Mexico City, Mexico)

 

What is for sure is that Mr. Cárdenas 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).

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