Mónica Cárdenas - Composer and Pianist
About the award-winning composer Mónica Cárdenas, critics say, "she offers us a precious mixture of cultures", "a very beautiful work that reflects interpretive enjoyment", "her works are a pleasant sound journey through the vast musical richness of the Latin American continent" (from different magazines of the musical world).
Her compositions for piano, chamber music, symphony and theater are performed on many international stages, and she herself is the one who also makes her piano compositions known, both, solo and in chamber music.
This is how Mónica is placed among the Latin American pianists of international trajectory career and occupies a place among the most outstanding composers of the 21st century.
She is invited to international festivals and conferences.
Her experience is based on invitations she had in the USA, such as the University of Riverside in 2018 as well in 2019 the Jacobs School of Music (Indiana University) to present her compositional style for piano and chamber music.
She was co-founder of the Cárdenas Trío with whom she had concerts on international stages.
Among her recordings with the Cárdenas Trío are "The 4 seasons of Buenos Aires" with music by Astor Piazzolla; "Labyrinth" with Brazilian classical music by composers such as Villa-Lobos, Nazaret, Mignone, etc.
Among her productions as a composer and pianist, in 2015 she was invited to participate in the recording of "Anikousto" (works for flute and piano) where she performed her sonata in 3 movements "Festejo en sueños", composed in 2015.
In 2020 Mónica presented "Influence", a piece for string orchestra that is among the works on the CD "Espiral", with the interpretation of the Camerata Gala chamber orchestra from Cordoba, Spain and the production of Ibs Classical.
In 2021, she recorded the piano album "10 Preludes and Fugues from Latin America", with works she composed in 2020. With this release, she won the Gold Medal at the 2021 Global Music Awards. In 2022, Mónica premiered the works in concert in London.
In 2023, Mónica recorded the album "Chaos", featuring works she composed for cello and piano. For this project, she performed alongside cellist Johann Aparicio Bohorquez, principal cellist of the Heidelberg Orchestra in Germany. "Chaos" won the Silver Medal at the 2023 Global Music Awards.
In 2024, "Chaos" premiered in concert in Berlin, and it was performed again as part of a Berlin Philharmonic concert series in 2025.
In October 2025, the CD "La Gris" was recorded in San Francisco (USA) by pianist Cole Anderson, featuring piano works composed by Mónica between 2020 and 2025.
"La Gris" won the 2026 Silver Medal at the Global Music Awards.
In 2025, she participated in the CD Memoires en Chanson with her sonata "Mis Recuerdos" for bass clarinet and piano, recorded in Washington (USA).
In October 2025, she recorded the CD "Borders" for clarinet and piano alongside Spanish clarinetist Pau Arroyuelo. The works were composed by Mónica between 2016 and 2025.
"Borders" won the 2026 Silver Medal at the Global Music Awards.
Both premiered the works during a concert series at the Berlin Philharmonic in 2026.
Mónica Cárdenas is Peruvian - Spanish, began her piano studies at the National Conservatory of Music in Lima and then at the Tchaikovsky Conservatories in Kiew and Moscow.
In 2019 she obtained the Fellowship Diploma equivalent to Master's degree in composition from West London University.
She currently lives in Germany where she develops an intense activity as a pianist, composer, and producer.