Santiago Cañón-Valencia (cello) with Victor Santiago Asuncion (piano) | Chamber Concert | Athenaeum Music & Arts Library | La Jolla (October 20)

Superstar cellist Santiago Cañón-Valencia returns to open our season with a dreamy duo program of French sonatas, unique transcriptions, and Stravinsky’s Suite Italienne (adapted from his ballet Pulcinella). Cañón-Valencia is a BBC Next Generation Artist and Tchaikovsky Competition silver medalist; his skill is hailed by The Strad as “technically flawless … totally under the skin of the composers’ idioms.”

Program:
Henri Duparc (1848–1933)
Lamento from Melodies

Claude Debussy (1862–1918)
Cello Sonata

Maurice Ravel (1875–1937)
“Posthume” Sonata

Francis Poulenc (1899–1963)
Suite Française

Pause

Ravel
Pavane pour une infante défunte
Pièce en forme de Habanera

Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971)
Suite Italienne

Colombian cellist Santiago Cañón-Valencia is a prolific soloist, composer, commissioner, recording artist, painter, and photographer. A 2022 BBC New Generation Artist, he was born in Bogotá in 1995 and made his debut with the Orquesta Filarmónica de Bogotá at age six before going on to win the Silver Medal at the 2019 XVI International Tchaikovsky Competition, the 2018 Starker Foundation Award, third prize at the 2017 Queen Elisabeth International Competition, and first prize at the Carlos Prieto International Cello Competition, among many other accolades.



During the 2025–2026 season, Cañón-Valencia takes on an international schedule, including solo recitals in Spain and Portugal, a performance with the Macedonian Philharmonic, and a seat on the jury for the Budapest International Cello Competition. In the United States, he performs with the Kansas City Symphony, Montgomery Symphony Orchestra, Grand Rapids Symphony, and Camerata Pacifica. He also appears in recitals with pianist Victor Asuncion at Stanford and in La Jolla. His Latin American schedule takes him to the Puerto Rico Symphony, the Festival de Música de Morelia in Mexico, and the Cartagena Music Festival in Colombia.



Cañón-Valencia’s solo career has taken him worldwide, with multiple world and regional premieres. In 2025–2026, he premieres Amparo Angel’s Cello Concerto at the Morelia Festival in Mexico. Previously, he performed World premieres, including Carlos Andrés Mejía’s cello concerto “Aurora” at Colombia’s Pereira Music Fest, Jorge Pinzón’s cello concerto “Rapsodia a los 4 Elementos” at the Cartagena International Music Festival, and Carlos Izcaray’s commissioned cello concerto Stringmaster with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra.



In 2024, Cañón-Valencia released his debut single on Deutsche Grammophon, a recording of Arvo Pärt’s Fratres with pianist Naoko Sonoda. Two additional singles will follow. He has recorded four additional complete albums, the most recent being Ascenso on Sono Luminus (2022).



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



Learn more at www.santiagocanonvalencia.com.

Hailed by the Washington Post for his “poised and imaginative playing,” Filipino American pianist Victor Santiago Asuncion has appeared in concert halls in Brazil, Canada, Ecuador, France, Italy, Germany, Japan, Mexico, the Philippines, Spain, Turkey, and the United States as a recitalist and concerto soloist. He made his orchestral debut at age 18 with the Manila Chamber Orchestra and his New York recital debut in Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall in 1999. In addition, he has worked with conductors including Sergio Esmilla, Enrique Batiz, Mei Ann Chen, Zeev Dorman, Arthur Weisberg, Corrick Brown, David Loebel, Leon Fleisher, Michael Stern, Jordan Tang, and Bobby McFerrin.



A chamber music enthusiast, he has performed with artists such as Lynn Harrell, Zuill Bailey, Andres Diaz, James Dunham, Antonio Meneses, Joshua Roman, Cho-Liang Lin, Giora Schmidt, and the Dover, Emerson, Serafin, Sao Paulo, and Vega String Quartets. He was a member of the chamber music faculty of the Aspen Music Festival, and the Garth Newel Summer Music Festival. He was also the pianist for the Garth Newel Piano Quartet for three seasons. Festival appearances include the Amelia Island, Highland-Cashiers, Music in the Vineyards, and Santa Fe.



His recordings include the complete Beethoven Sonatas with cellist Tobias Werner, Sonatas by Shostakovich and Rachmaninoff with cellist Joseph Johnson, the Rachmaninoff Sonata with cellist Evan Drachman, and the Chopin and Grieg Sonatas, also with cellist Evan Drachman. He is featured on the award-winning recording Songs My Father Taught Me with Lynn Harrell, produced by Louise Frank and WFMT-Chicago. Asuncion is the founder and artistic and board director of FilAm Music Foundation, a nonprofit foundation dedicated to promoting Filipino classical musicians through scholarship and performance.



He received his Doctor of Musical Arts in 2007 from the University of Maryland at College Park under the tutelage of Rita Sloan. He is a Steinway artist.

All concerts are preceded by a pre-concert talk at 6:45 p.m. and are followed by a reception with the artists in the Sharon & Joel Labovitz Entry Hall.