- May 23, 2021
- 3 min read

Newsletter May 2021

ANNOUNCEMENT TO ALL WINNERS OF AROUND THE GLOBE PIANO COMPETITION OF 2019 & 2021

We are pleased to inform you that AGMA will be hosting the SUMMER WINNERS’ PIANO RECITAL ONLINE (pre-recorded) for the winners of Around the Globe Piano Competitions of 2019 and 2020 of ALL categories, including Junior and Adult pianists, which participation is FREE of charge. Date: Sunday 27th June 2021 Time: 11:00 BST Where: Zoom

To perform at the concert, you need to apply not later than Sunday 20th June 2021, 19:00 BST via email at: agpianomusicfestival@gmail.com.

Your application should include:

● Your name and the code of the category/class that you have won ● Your proposed programme. Please consider the style of your pieces which should relate to the category that you have won at the Piano Competition. An advisory guidelines for the maximum length of your performance are as follows: – Beginners up to grade 3 2 Minute – Intermediate up to grade 5 4 Minutes – Early advanced up to grade 7 6 Minutes – Advanced, grade 8 and above 13 Minutes ● Your audio-visual file of your performed piece(s), if possible, in MP4 format or YouTube link ● Name of your piano teacher/mentor We hope you’ll enjoy participating in this recital and would appreciate any feedback regarding the whole AGPMF experience via our email.

MEMO

AGMA is following closely the road to recovery from a pandemic in the UK and beyond, which shows a very positive indication. We genuinely hope that the progress will continue and many music performance and other cultural venues will reopen after the latest national lockdown. Therefore, we are planning live music concerts in autumn this year including an additional Winners’ Piano Recital at one of our prestigious London music venues in October 2021. Further announcement about this and other events will be made in our forthcoming newsletters closer to date.

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We are delighted to present piano music of

MONICA CARDENAS

performed by composer

10 Preludes and Fugues of Latin America and Sonata Herencia

for advanced level pianists (CD and sheet music available)

Notes from the composer:

“Sonata Herencia (Heritage) has noticeable Afro-Peruvian influences with its archaic ethnic melodies and specific national rhythms of Spain, Africa, and Arab countries, which are distinctive throughout the whole opus. In addition, within this classical form, the main theme of Festejo (an African dance from the coast of Peru) is heard in the 1st and later, in the 3rd movement.

Through the piece, we can hear the music that tries to imitate the sound of Peruvian Cajon, which is the main accompanying instrument of Afro-Peruvian dance. (*A Cajon is a box-shaped percussion instrument originally from Peru, played by slapping the front or rear faces with the hands, fingers, or sometimes implements such as brushes, mallets, or sticks. The Cajon is primarily played in Afro-Peruvian music, but has made its way into flamenco as well). …

This sonata is my tribute to Afro-Peruvian culture and the Africans who came to Peru and the Latin American continent with its 16th-century conquerors.”

Who is Monica Cardenas?

www.monica-cardenas.de

Monica is a Peruvian-Spanish pianist and composer. After graduating from the National Conservatory of Music in Lima, and the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Kiev, she went on to develop her career performing internationally both as a solo pianist and as a chamber music artist and founding member of The Cardenas Trio for over two decades. Today, Monica is part of a cadre of Latin American pianists and composers recognised for numerous international stage performances.

As a composer, Monica’s works have been performed in the US, Europe, and Latin America, where she is also regularly invited to lead Master Classes, Diploma presentations, and other commitments where her compositions for solo piano are featured. Recently, in 2018-2019, she was invited by The Riverside University of California and The Jacobs School of Music at the University of Indiana as the principal lecturer and performer in a conference on her composition style. Furthermore, in 2019, she was granted a Fellowship of composition by the University of West London.

Her compositions have been included in productions such as Anikousto in 2015, where she performed her sonata Festejo en Sueños for flute and piano; Espiral in 2020, introducing the work Influence for string orchestra; and her latest composition and production, in 2021, the CD 10 Preludes and Fugues of Latin America where she also plays the piano. Other recordings with The Cardenas Trio include – The 4 Seasons of Buenos Aires by A. Piazzolla, and Labyrinth by Brazilian composers.