Bach Festival Society
Díaz Trio
Andrés Cárdenes, violin
Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt, viola
Andrés Díaz, cello
Thursday, November 19, 2020 • 7:30pm
Tiedtke Concert Hall
View Artist Bios | View Program Notes
Díaz Trio
One of the few professional string trios in existence, the Díaz Trio is internationally revered as one of the finest chamber ensembles performing today, garnering enthusiastic praise from critics and audiences alike. Composed of three dynamic artists—violinist Andrés Cárdenes, violist Roberto Díaz, and cellist Andrés Díaz—the trio performs regularly in recital and at festivals around the world. In 1993, at the invitation of Isaac Stern, the trio performed at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall to celebrate the next one hundred years of music-making at Carnegie Hall. Other highlights include performances in Los Angeles, Seattle, Pittsburgh, Boston, Austin, and Lincoln Center in New York; festivals appearances at the Mostly Mozart Festival at the Kennedy Center, the Newport Festival, Cape and Islands Chamber Music Festival, Festival de San Miguel de Allende in Mexico, St. Cyprien International Festival of the Arts on France, and the Kuhmo Festival in Finland; and an extensive tour of Chile. Recent debut tours of Canada, in collaboration with Canadian pianist Angela Cheng and guitarist Norbert Kraft, were a resounding success. The Díaz Trio also performs regularly at both the Corcoran Gallery and Phillips Collection in Washington, DC. The Díaz Trio serves as Trio in Residence at the Brevard Music Center in North Carolina.
Andrés Cárdenes, violin
Cuban-born violinist, violist, teacher, conductor, and concertmaster, Andrés Cárdenes serves as violin professor at Carnegie Mellon University School of Music and is also the Artistic Director of the Carnegie Mellon University Philharmonic.
Cárdenes’ pedagogical career began as an assistant to his teacher and mentor, Joseph Gingold, at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. As a professional musician he has appeared with over 100 orchestra across the world in locations such as Moscow, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Houston, Helsinki, Caracas, Brussels, and Shanghai. As a collaborative musician he has worked with conductors such as Lorin Maazel, Mariss Jansons, Sir André Previn, Leonard Slatkin, and Gerard Schwarz.
In addition to being concertmaster at many notable orchestras, Cárdenes was conductor and concertmaster of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra for over 20 years.
A very active teacher, Cárdenes has served on the faculties of Indiana University, the University of Utah, and the University of Michigan, and he has given master classes at nearly all of the top music institutions in the United States.
Cárdenes has toured with The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, is a member of the Carnegie Mellon Piano Trio, and as the violinist of the Díaz Trio holds a summer residence at the Brevard Music Center. He has appeared on multiple label recordings, including Naxos, RCA, and Sony.
Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt, viola
Praised by Strad magazine as having “lyricism that stood out, … a silky tone, and beautiful, supple lines,” violist Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt has established herself as one of the most sought-after violists of her generation. In addition to her appearances as soloist with the Tokyo Philharmonic and the Sphinx Chamber Orchestra, she has performed in recitals and chamber-music concerts throughout the United State, Latin America, Europe, and Asia.
Ms. Pajaro-van de Stadt is the founding violist of the Dover Quartet, First Prize-winner and recipient of every award at the Banff International String Quartet Competition 2013, and winner of the Gold Medal and Grand Prize in the 2010 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition. In addition to other awards and top prizes, Ms. Pajaro-van de Stadt’s summer festival appearances have included Marlboro, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Sarasota, Vail, La Jolla Summerfest, and Chamber Music Northwest, Bravo!
A violin student of Sergiu Schwartz and Melissa Pierson-Barrett for several years, she began studying viola with Michael Koltz at the Bowdoin International Music Festival in 2005. Ms. Pajaro-van de Stadt graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied with Roberto Diaz, Michael Tree, Misha Amory, and Joseph de Pasquale. While a student of James Dunham, Ms. Pajaro-van de Stadt received her master’s degree in String Quartet with the Dover Quartet at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music.
The Dover Quartet, based in Philadelphia, PA, is currently on the faculties of the Curtis Institute of Music and Northwestern University’s School of Music, and is the Quartet in Residence of the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
Andrés Díaz, cello
Since winning the First Prize in the 1986 Naumburg International Cello Competition, Mr. Díaz has exhilarated both critics and audiences with his intense and charismatic performances. He was awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant as well as a generous grant from the Susan W. Rose Fund for Music in 1998.
Mr. Díaz’s summer festival appearances include the Ban Centre, Santa Fe, La Jolla, Marlboro, Ravinia, Bravo! Colorado, Spoleto, Music@Menlo, Saratoga, and Tanglewood festivals. His appearances at Tanglewood earned him the Pierre Mayer Memorial Award for Outstanding String Player. In 2009 Mr. Díaz was nominated for a Latin Grammy.
Mr. Díaz graduated from the New England Conservatory, where he worked with Laurence Lesser and Colin Carr, and currently plays an active role in chamber music performances with the Conservatory’s faculty. He served for five years as Associate Professor of Cello at the Boston University and Co-Director of the Boston University Tanglewood Institute Quartet Program. Mr. Díaz now lives in Dallas, Texas, with his wife, Julie, and sons Peter Manuel and Gabriel Andres. Presently, he is Professor of Cello at Southern Methodist University. He plays 1698 Matteo Goffriller cello and uses a bow made by his father, Manuel Díaz. Mr. Díaz holds the Koerner Chair in Cello at the Glen Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto.
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