Date/Time
Sunday, February 28, 2027
2:00 pm PST – 4:00 pm PST
Location
UCLA William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
2520 Cimarron Street
All Chamber Music at the Clark tickets will be sold by the UCLA Central Ticket Office. Tickets may be purchased online, via telephone, or in person.
Ticket prices: General $60; Senior (age 55+) $50; UCLA student (valid student ID required for each ticket) $15. Tickets are non-refundable.
Tickets for this concert will go on sale Tuesday, January 26, 2027 at Noon.
Seating at the Clark Library is limited, and tickets are likely to sell out within a few minutes.
Online: https://ucla.evenue.net/events/CTO
Telephone: (310) 825-2101
In person: Central Ticket Office windows located on the UCLA campus at 325 Westwood Plaza (ground level, across from Pauley Pavilion).
If any tickets for this concert remain unsold, they will be available for purchase at the Clark Library on the day of the event. Any available day-of tickets will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis by a Central Ticket Office representative beginning at 1:00 p.m. Payment will be accepted via credit card only. For inquiries, please call or email the Central Ticket Office at (310) 825-2101 or cto@tickets.ucla.edu, Monday–Friday 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Program
Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
String Quartet in F Minor, op. 20, no. 5
Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975)
String Quartet No. 4 in D Major, op. 83
Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
String Quintet in C Major, D. 956
Cuarteto Casals with Cellist Santiago Cañón-Valencia
Vera Martinez, violin
Abel Tomàs, violin
Cristina Cordero, viola
Arnau Tomàs, cello
Santiago Cañón-Valencia, cello
Celebrating its 30th anniversary during the 2026–2027 season, Cuarteto Casals has established itself as one of the world’s leading string quartets and a defining presence in today’s international chamber music scene.
Founded in 1997 at Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía in Madrid, the ensemble appears each season at many of the world’s most prestigious concert halls and festivals, including Carnegie Hall in New York, the Philharmonie and Boulez Saal in Berlin, the Konzerthaus and Musikverein in Vienna, the Salzburg Festival, Wigmore Hall in London, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Philharmonie de Paris, and Suntory Hall in Tokyo.
Its commitment to uncovering the essence of every score is reflected in more than twenty recordings for harmonia mundi, featuring works by Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Schubert and Brahms, as well as the complete string quartets of Beethoven and Shostakovich. This artistic approach also extends to historically informed performances using Baroque and Classical bows from the London-based Borletti Buitoni Trust. Alongside this, the quartet maintains a strong commitment to contemporary music through the premiere of new works and long-standing collaborations with today’s composers.
In its anniversary season, Cuarteto Casals once again serves as Artistic Director of the Barcelona String Quartet Biennial, presented by L’Auditori. The ensemble also gives the premiere of a new string quartet by Raquel García-Tomás, jointly commissioned by Centro Nacional de Difusión Musical (CNDM), the Kölner Philharmonie, and the Musikverein Wien.
Highlights of the 2026-27 season include tours across Asia and North America as well as extensive performances across Europe, with concerts at renowned venues, including a tribute concert for the 150th anniversary of Pablo Casals’s birth at Palau de la Música in Barcelona, Bozar, Het Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam, Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin, Auditorio Nacional de Madrid, Kölner Philharmonie, and Amici della Musica di Firenze.
Alongside its performing career, Cuarteto Casals is deeply committed to teaching and holds residencies at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole, the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya, and the Royal Conservatoire The Hague. The ensemble has received Spain’s National Music Prize, the Medal of Honor of the Escuela Reina Sofía, Catalonia’s National Culture Prize, and the Barcelona City Prize.
Colombian cellist Santiago Cañón-Valencia is a prolific soloist, composer, commissioner, recording artist, painter, and photographer described as “technically flawless… totally under the skin of the composers’ idioms” (The Strad). He was named a BBC New Generation Artist in 2022. Born in Bogotá in 1995, Cañón-Valencia made his orchestral debut as a soloist with the Orquesta Filarmónica de Bogotá at age six, blossoming into an accomplished musician praised as “an artist from whom sound and texture flow with ease and authenticity” (The Whole Note) and a “virtuoso of outstanding versatility and technical ease” (The Violin Channel).
In a highlight of his 2026-27 season, Cañón-Valencia makes his Carnegie Hall debut in the course of a five-city North American recital tour with pianist and frequent collaborator Victor Santiago Asunción. Among his other season highlights, he performs a solo recital at Tanglewood, presented by the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He makes orchestral debuts as a soloist with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra and with the Delaware Symphony Orchestra, where he performs as soloist on Gabriela Ortiz’s Dzonot Cello Concerto. His return engagements include performances with the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta Filarmónica de Bogotá, and Filarmónica de Galicia. He also embarks on a North American recital tour with the Casals Quartet, a West Coast chamber tour with Camerata Pacifica artists Grace Park and Irina Zahharenkova, and a tour of Italy with pianist Naoko Sonoda. He makes return appearances to the Cartagena Music Festival in Colombia and Festival Casals in Puerto Rico.
Cañón-Valencia’s many accolades include Silver Medalist and “Audience Favorite” at the 2019 XVI International Tchaikovsky Competition; recipient of the 2018 Starker Foundation Award; Third Prize honoree at the 2017 Queen Elisabeth International Competition; and First Prize winner at the Carlos Prieto International Cello Competition and Beijing International Music Competition, among many others.
His solo career has taken him around the world to perform with such orchestras as the SWR Symphonieorchester, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Brussels Philharmonic, Frankfurt Radio Orchestra, Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, Belgrade Philharmonic, Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Antwerp Symphony, Ulster Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, Macedonian Philharmonic, RTVE Symphony Orchestra, and San Francisco Symphony, as well as all of the major orchestras in his native Colombia. During the 2023-24 season, he made his debut at London’s Wigmore Hall as a BBC New Generation Artist alongside pianist Naoko Sonoda. He has been featured at South Korea’s Mostly Cello Festival and in 100th birthday celebrations in honor of János Starker in Seoul, South Korea, and Tokyo, Japan. Over recent seasons, his North American schedule has taken him to performances with ensembles including the Kansas City Symphony, Camerata Pacifica, Phoenix Symphony, Alabama Symphony, Grand Rapids Symphony, and Montgomery Symphony Orchestra.
Passionate about collaboration with living composers, Cañón-Valencia performed the world premiere of Amparo Angel’s Cello Concerto at the Morelia Festival in Mexico, as well as the US premiere of Tobias Picker’s Cello Concerto with the Montgomery Symphony during the 2025-26 season. Previously, he performed world premieres including Carlos Andrés Mejía’s Cello Concerto “Aurora” at Colombia’s Pereira Music Fest, Jorge Pinzón’s Cello Concerto “Rapsodia a los 4 Elementos” at the Cartagena International Music Festival, and Carlos Izcaray’s commissioned cello concerto Stringmaster with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra. He also gave the Colombian premiere of Ginaster’s Cello Concerto No. 2 with the National Symphony Orchestra of Colombia.
As a recording artist, Cañón-Valencia enjoys immersing himself in known and unknown works, particularly in commissioning new pieces, arranging, and composing. In July 2025, he released his second single on Deutsche Grammophon—a recording of his original work Ouróboros with pianist Naoko Sonoda—as part of the label’s Musical Moments series. His previous DG single, a recording of Arvo Pärt’s Fratres, also performed with Sonoda, was released as part of the same series in 2024. His latest complete album, Ascenso, released in November 2022 on Sono Luminus, showcases pieces arranged and written by himself, plus works commissioned and written for him by contemporary Colombian composers. Earlier recordings include his acclaimed debut release Solo, an album with pianist Andrea Lucchesini dedicated to Schubert and Beethoven, for the Egea label, and an album of Russian cello sonatas and popular pieces from the cello repertoire with pianist Katherine Austin,for the Atoll label.
Cañón-Valencia’s primary musical mentors have been Henryk Zarzycki in Colombia, James Tennant in New Zealand, Andres Diaz in the United States, and Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt at the Kronberg Academy in Germany. He has been sponsored by the Mayra & Edmundo Esquenazi Scholarship through the Salvi Foundation since 2011.
Learn more at www.santiagocanonvalencia.com.
Chamber Music at the Clark is made possible by The Ahmanson Foundation, under the auspices of Lee Walcott; Henry J. Bruman Endowment for Chamber Music; The Colburn Foundation; Ms. Brenda F. Anderson; Martha Bardach/Bardach Robson Family Charitable Foundation; Catherine Glynn Benkaim, Ph.D. and Ms. Barbara Timmer; Rogers Brubaker, Ph.D; Johanna R. Drucker, Ph.D.; The Mari and Ed Edelman Charitable Fund for Music and Public Service; Dr. Daniel J. Fink and Dr. Ruth F. Cousineau; Susan S. Harris, Ph.D. and Mr. Mark J. Harris; Judith L. Hellinger; Dr. David E. Lopez; Dr. Martin H. Mach and Dr. Susan P. Mach; Mr. Bernie Mendes and Ms. Elaine Mendes; Mrs. Janet K. Minami; Mr. Jeffrey L. Nagin and Mrs. Bette I. Nagin; Jeanne Robson, Ph.D. ; Dr. Thomas Rosenthal and Ms. Susan M. Rosenthal; Dr. Patricia Bates Simun and Mr. Richard V. Simun Memorial Fund; Professor Bronwen Wilson; and Mr. Robert A. Young and Mrs. Roberta J. Husted Young.
Please see here for more information about our chamber music programs.
Photo credit: Courtesy of Arts Management Group.