Lady Southey, AC is proudly launching her signature series of concerts with the incredible Santiago Cañón Valencia. Having been hailed by critics as “a phenomenon” and “without doubt already one of the finest cellists on the world stage today”, the young virtuoso cellist Santiago, has established himself as one of the most exciting, emerging musical talents.

Santiago Cañón Valencia (born May 9, 1995 in Bogotá, Cundinamarca) is a Colombian cellist. He comes from a family of musicians (his father is a clarinetist of the Bogotá Philharmonic Orchestra and his sister is a violinist). His mother started teaching him cello when he was 4 years old. When he was still 6 years old, in 2002, he gave his first concert with the Bogotá Philharmonic Orchestra. He has played with the world’s best ever since.

Santiago is returning to Australia for some concert performances, to kick start this wonderful program. Marigold’s philosophy has always taken pride in nurturing talent and promoting the art of performance. Skyhigh Promotions has developed this new platform, which is named after Marigold Southey, for her continued commitment to the arts in general and young people specifically; in an effort to reach out to artists at an early point in their burgeoning careers. Artists will include young, up & coming opera singers, musicians and chamber ensembles amongst others.

Santiago will be performing alongside the Strings of the newly formed Melbourne Sinfonietta, led by Roger Jonsson, the outstanding Concertmaster who co-led the Melbourne Ring Orchestra in 2013. Roger Jonsson has held regular positions in nearly all of Sweden’s leading orchestras, including the Swedish Radio Symphony, the Baroque Orchestra, Stockholm’s New Chamber Orchestra and the Stockholm Sinfonietta. Roger has performed in many tours throughout Sweden and Europe. Roger is currently OV’s Concertmaster.

Santiago has performed concertos with orchestras in Colombia, Australia, New Zealand, China, South Africa, United States, Canada and Hungary. Recently, he was invited to perform Haydn in C Major Cello Concerto with the Moscow Soloists and Yuri Bashmet as conductor, in Bogota, Colombia. He has also been a guest artist several times at the Cartagena International Music festival and in 2015, he will play with the Mahler Chamber Soloists at the same festival.

“Santiago possesses a musical maturity that is way beyond his years. His technical precision is quite staggering and he is without doubt already one of the finest cellists on the world stage today.” Adam Chalabi, Melbourne, October 2012, Elgar Cello Concerto with the Orchestra Victoria

“Playing the Shostakovich First Concerto, Valencia proved to be a phenomenon.”

William Dart, New Zealand Herald, March 2011