Diana V. Sáez

Diana Victoria Sáez is a Puerto Rican conductor, composer, and pianist. She is most widely known as the founder and artistic director of Coral Cantigas, since 1991.

A native of Puerto Rico, earned a Master of Education from Harvard University and a Master of Choral Conducting from Temple University, and she holds a Doctorate in Musical Arts from the University of Maryland, College Park. In October 2003 she was the recipient of the 2003 Tony Taylor Award, presented by the Cultural Alliance of Greater Washington, for her artistic excellence and noticeable assistance to artists in our region. In December 2002 Diana was awarded the Arts in the Community Award for Excellence 2002, by Montgomery County (MD) Executive Douglas Duncan and Discovery Communications, Inc., for her major contribution to the quality of life in Montgomery County through the arts. In 1999, she received the Poder con Ganas Award from the Hispanic Democratic Club of Montgomery County, in recognition of outstanding and sustained leadership in empowering the Latin American community.

As director of Cantigas, Diana has prepared and conducted choirs for the Washington, D.C. premieres of Paco Peña's Misa Flamenca (Spain), Antonio Mir's Misa (Argentina), Luis Morales Bance's oratorio Berruecos (Venezuela), Ernani Aguiar's Cantilena (Brazil) and the anonymous colonial Bolivian-work Misa Encarnación. She has also presented sessions for regional and national conventions of the American Choral Directors Association, and is the ACDA Maryland Repertoire and Standards Chair for Ethnic and Multicultural music. Ms. Sáez frequently serves as guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator. In addition to her work with Cantigas, Diana directs the World Bank-International Monetary Fund Choral Society. She is a founding member of Cantaré, a musical ensemble dedicated to performing music from Latin America for children. Since 2001 Ms. Sáez has been invited to be part of the Maryland Artist-Teacher Institute, a professional development program for teachers and school administrators who design and implement arts-integrated school curricula, under the auspices of the Maryland State Department of Education and the Maryland State Arts Council.

Coral Cantigas

Sáez founded Coral Cantigas in 1991, and has served as its artistic director since that time.