The Cuban-born violinist Andrés Cárdenes has won international acclaim from critics and audiences alike for his solo violin, conducting, viola, chamber music, concertmaster and recorded performances. Since taking Second Prize in the 1982 Tchaikovsky International Violin Competition in Moscow, he has appeared as soloist with over one hundred orchestras on four continents, including those of Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, St Louis, Moscow, Bavarian Radio, Helsinki, Shanghai, Caracas and Barcelona.

He has collaborated with many of today’s greatest conductors, including Lorin Maazel, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Mariss Jansons, Charles Dutoit, Christoph Eschenbach, Sir André Previn, Leonard Slatkin, Sir Andrew Davis,Gerard Schwarz, David Zinman and Manfred Honeck. Andrés Cárdenes holds the title of Distinguished Professor of Violin Studies and the Dorothy Richard Starling/Alexander Speyer Jr Endowed Chair at Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Music. Andrés Cárdenes was appointed Concertmaster of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra by Lorin Maazel in 1989 and holds the Rachel Mellon Walton Endowed Concertmaster Chair, leaving at the end of the 2009–2010 season to concentrate on his conducting, solo and chamber music careers. Presented as part of Miami Music Festival 2017.