Musical family will share talents with community

Photo courtesy of Arlene Cardenes gifted—Marco Valentin Cardenes, 9, began studying piano at age 5 with Professor Luz Manriquez. He has performed in recitals and concerts across America and in Germany. This pianist also enjoys skiing and is a Star Wars

When thinking about a musical family, names like Bach, Strauss and even Von Trapp, who inspired the “Sound of Music,” come to mind. However, Culver City has its own musical family: the Cárdenes. They will get together for a special family performance on Sunday, March 16 at the Culver-Palms UnitedMethodist Church located at 4464 Sepulveda Blvd. in Culver City at 4 p.m.

Andrés M. and Arlene Cárdenes moved from New York to Culver City where they have lived since 1962.

Andrés is an Architect and Arlene studied piano and mandolin in her earlier years. They have three children, Andrés, Arlette and Alys, all of whom went to El Marino Elementary School where they were exposed to the music program Culver City had in those days under the direction of Ray Cottington-Mullholand. Andrés selected to play the violin, Arlette the cello and Alys the viola: they participated in the school orchestra, joined the Meremblum Youth Orchestra in Hollywood and then the American Youth Orchestra under the direction of Mehli Mehta.

Andrés attended the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan for his high school studies, and then went on to Indiana University at Bloomington to study under the venerable Josef Gingold. During those years, he participated in many international violin competitions, such as: Queen Elizabeth in Belgium, Sibelius in Finland and finally the most respected of them all, the Tchaikovsky competition in Russia where he won second prize.

Upon Andrés’ return to the United States he was named concertmaster of the Utah Symphony Orchestra, San Diego Symphony and finally concertmaster of the respected Pittsburgh Symphony where he spent 22 years.

Andrés was named Distinguished Professor of Violin at Carnegie Mellon University and he has an extensive career as a concert violinist and conductor and performs all over the world. Last year he was appointed Artistic Director of Carnegie Mellon University Philharmonic.

Andrés is married to Monique Mead, also a violinist, who has traveled extensively throughout the world performing and teaching. They have two children; Isabel 10 and Marco Valentin 9, who are both pianists that made their solo debut in Germany in March 2013. Isabel and Marco Valentin have performed in many recitals in their home in Pittsburgh, California and Colorado.

Arlette attended the University of Michigan and graduated with a Master’s Degree in cello and was an orchestra member of the Schatz Theater production, which toured Europe for eight months. Upon her return to California she was named operation manager of the Inland-Empire Symphony Orchestra and kept playing with different orchestras as well as teaching cello.

In 1997 Arlette returned to Culver City and found the arts programs nonexistent due to government cuts and decided, in association with her brother Andrés, not to let classical music die in this City. With that objective, the two siblings founded the Culver City Chamber Orchestra, where she is the Conductor and Andrés the Artistic Director.

Arlette also participated in numerous conducting seminars and workshops throughout the United States and has worked with Harold Farberman, Gustav Meir, Otto Werner-Mueller, Marin Alsop, Apo Hsu,, Lawrence Golan and John Koshak, to name a few. Currently she has two private cello studios, one in Culver City and one in Reseda.

Alys studied viola with the legendary Virginia Majewski and participated in many different orchestras. She is an active member of the Culver City Chamber Orchestra Board of Directors.

For information and reservations please call 310-397-2490 or visit our website ccchamberorchestra. com.