Cellist Santiago Cañón-Valencia signs with Arts Management Group

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Arts Management Group (AMG) has signed 27-year-old cellist Santiago Cañón-Valencia for representation in North, Central and South America (excluding Colombia).

’I am so looking forward to this collaboration and to all the wonderful opportunities it will bring,’ said Cañón-Valencia on social media.

Born in Bogota in 1995, Cañón-Valencia has studied with major mentors internationally, including 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.

Cañón-Valencia has enjoyed competition success for many years, including third prize at the 2017 Queen Elisabeth Competition, silver medal and audience award at the 2019 International Tchaikovsky Competition and was selected as a 2022 BBC Radio 3 Next Generation Artist. He is a 2018 Starker Foundation Award recipient as well as a first prize winner of the Carlos Prieto International Cello Competition, Beijing International Music Competition, Gisborne International Music Competition, and Lennox International Young Artists Competition. Cañón-Valencia was also a major prize winner of the Sphinx, Casals, Johansen, Cassadó, and Adam cello competitions.

He made his concerto debut at six years old with the Orquesta Filarmónica de Bogotá and has since appeared with major orchestras as a soloist worldwide. With a passion for new music, Cañón-Valencia has premiered works including Carlos Izcaray’s Cello Concerto Stringmaster alongside Alabama Symphony Orchestra, Jorge Pinzón’s Cello Concerto Rapsodia a los 4 Elementos, plus the Colombian premiere of Ginastera’s Cello Concerto no. 2 and the New Zealand premiere of Gulda’s Cello Concerto.

His recording output comprises new commissions, arrangements, and his own compositions. His latest recording Ascenso, released on the Sono Luminus label, showcases pieces arranged and written by Cañón-Valencia, as well as works commissioned and written for him by contemporary Colombian composers.

Cañón-Valencia has been sponsored by the Mayra & Edmundo Esquenazi Scholarship through the Salvi Foundation since 2011.

Based in New York City, AMG represents numerous string players, including Jennifer Frautschi, Vadim Gluzman, Paul Huang and Geneva Lewis, violist Jordan Bak and cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras.