Born in Colombia in 1995, Santiago Cañón Valencia has been praised as one of the most promising young cellists of his generation. He is currently pursuing his Professional Studies degree with Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt at the Kronberg Academy (Germany).
Santiago made his professional orchestral debut as a soloist at the age of 6 and has since gone on to perform in recitals and as a soloist with orchestras from all around the globe such as the Brussels Philharmonic, Antwerp Symphony, Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and Moscow Soloists among others.
His debut CD of solo 20th Century works “Solo” has been internationally acclaimed.
Santiago has been sponsored by the Mayra & Edmundo Esquenazi Scholarship through the Salvi Foundation since 2011. He is a recipient of the MPower Artist Grants 2016 by the Sphinx Organization and was also awarded with the prestigious Monini Prize at the Spoleto Festival 2017.
First Prize Winner of the Carlos Prieto 2016, Beijing, Gisborne and Lennox international cello competitions; he is also a major Prize Winner of the Sphinx 2017, Casals, Johansen, Cassadó, and Adam competitions. In 2017, Santiago won Third Prize at the prestigious Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition in Brussels.