Maestro Andrés Cárdenes Retires

Legendary violinist, professor and conductor retires after 35 years

After 47 years of teaching—35 of them at Carnegie Mellon University—Maestro Andrés Cárdenes is retiring from the faculty of the School of Music. As the Dorothy Richard Starling & Alexander Speyer, Jr. University Professor of Violin, Cárdenes has also held the post of Director of Orchestral Studies and Music Director of the Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic for the past 10 years. A fiery, dedicated and passionate violinist and conductor, the Cuban-born Cárdenes has transformed the School’s orchestral and violin studies while earning numerous accolades. Maestro Cárdenes will conduct the Philharmonic in Mahler’s 4^th Symphony one last time this Sunday, April 28 at 8:00 PM at Carnegie Music Hall in Oakland.

“It has been a joy and honor to have been a CMU School of Music professor for 35 years,” Cárdenes said. “I am very proud to have represented our school throughout the world as I traveled to perform in 65 countries.”

Cárdenes has had a distinguished career par excellence, including an astonishing 21 years as the Concertmaster (the first chair of the first violin section) of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. He won the Second Prize in the prestigious Tchaikovsky International Violin Competition in Moscow in 1982, and then went on to solo on violin with over 100 orchestras all over the world, from St. Louis to Shanghai.

As a conductor, Cárdenes has led acclaimed performances with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Colorado Symphony, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Neue Philharmonie Westfalen, Orquesta Filarmónica de Bogotá, San Diego Symphony, Orquesta Sinfónica Municipal de Caracas and many more. He has made over 30 commercial recordings, has been nominated for the GRAMMY Award and has received humanitarian awards including the Kollel Foundation Jewish Learning Award, the Kindness Award from Chabad, Mexican Red Cross, WQED Musician of the Year and the UNICEF Cultural Ambassadorship.  

Daniel Nesta Curtis, an Associate Teaching Professor, Director of the Contemporary Ensemble, and Resident Conductor since 2012 has been named Interim Director of Orchestral Studies beginning in the 2024-2025 academic year.

Curtis remarked, “It is impossible to overstate the profound influence Andrés Cárdenes has had on several generations of music students through his decades of teaching at the CMU School of Music. Andrés is a one-of-a-kind artist, a truly dedicated teacher, and I feel incredibly fortunate to call him a friend, colleague, and mentor. No one has done more than Andrés to make the CMU School of Music the vibrant, creative, excellent place that it is today.”

Maestro Cárdenes said, “My warmest memories will be of the many students I have taught and mentored, almost all of whom hold prestigious positions in major orchestras, universities, conservatories, chamber ensembles and executive positions at festivals and many major music organizations. I am very grateful to my colleagues for their support over these many years. These relationships mean everything to me and are the most important thing I will leave here with.”