Leonardo Cárdenas

Leonardo Cárdenas Palacios (born April 29, 1968 in Guayaquil, Ecuador) is an Ecuadorian composer, pianist and orchestra director. He studied at the Conservatorio de Música Salvador Bustamante Celi (Salvador Bustamante Celi Music Conservatory) in Loja with many famous musicians, both Ecuadorian and from abroad.

He was member of bands like Juvenil from Pichincha and Quito Metropolitan Symphonic Band as a keyboardist, composer and arranger. He has been a musical director, composer and arranger for various groups and popular Ecuadorian soloists: Pueblo Nuevo, Margarita Laso, Alberto Caleris, Hugo Hidrobo, Chimera, Loli Burnet, Beatriz Gil, Viviana González, Tanya Román and others.

He founded the Studio of Department of Musical Development and Dissemination of the Municipality of Quito, where he was a head manager for some time. In 1999, he travelled to Madrid, Spain, to be member of the course "Introduction to Computer Electro-acoustic Compositions" in the Communications Center of Contemporary Music (Centro de Difusión de la Música Contemporánea, CDMC).He worked in the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador (Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, PUCE) in the school year 2000/2001 as a professor of orchestration and arrangements. In 2004, he was a member of the Second International Meeting of Directors, Composers, Arrangers and Musicians held by Tatuí Symphonic Band in São Paulo, Brazil, invited by the organizers of the event and from 2003 to date is a member of World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles. He played at various local festivals: First Serenade Festival of Virgin of Swans (Primera Serenata a la Virgen del Cisne) in Loja, 2002, Third International Festival of Sacred Music in Quito (Tercer Festival Internacional de Música Sacra de Quito), 2003 and the Fifth International Festival of Sacred Music in Quito (Quinto Festival Internacional de Música Sacra de Quito), 2006. As a composer, he has a wide and vast repertoire released in the country and abroad. He was an Adviser on Culture and Artistic Events in the Directorate of Culture of the Metropolitan Municipality of Quito between 2003 and 2005, and a person dealing with Arts and Culture at several local cultural activities. He was the General Director and Producer of the First and Second Encounter Music Intercollegiate (Primer y Segundo Encuentro Intercolegial de Música), hosted by the Municipality of Quito in 2004 and 2005.

In 2006, he was invited to the Third Ibero-American Meeting of Directors, Composers, Arrangers and Musicians of Symphonic Bands (Tercer Encuentro Iberoamericano de Directores, Compositores, Arregladores y Músicos de Bandas Sinfónicas) in Córdoba, Argentina. He has also been a musical director and producer of the Ecuadorian Popular Music Meeting (Encuentros de la Música Popular Ecuatoriana) in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009, organized by Rescue Fund of Cultural Heritage and Cultural Department of the Municipality of Quito (Dirección de Cultura del Municipio Metropolitano de Quito) and released a compact disc in memory of the first meeting. In 2007 and 2008 he was invited to attend the XIII International Meeting of Symphonic Bands YAMAHA (XIII Encuentro Internacional de Bandas Sinfónicas YAMAHA) in Bogotá, Colombia, where in 2007 he presented his works and published them to the world in F. KALMUS MUSIC. In April 2008 he worked on the gala event for the 75th anniversary of inauguration of the Teatro Bolivar in Quito with Ecuadorian cultural activities as Camerata Tuhuamari, Bocapelo, Ecuadorian Chamber of Ballet (Ballet Ecuatoriano de Cámara), R2 Tango, Pies en la Tierra, and others. On behalf of the Technical University of Loja (Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja) he composed the work for Viola, String and Flute Orchestra on poetry contest of poet Fernando Rielo in Quito, December 2008. In March 2009 he was appointed as external consultant of the Ministry of Culture of Ecuador in project System of Folk Symphony Orchestras and Bands, within the framework of bilateral cultural cooperation agreement of Ecuador and Cuba. In June 2009, he participated in the XV International Seminar of Yamaha, acting as guest composer and director in Manizales, Colombia. On behalf of FONSAL he wrote music for the main event of the Quito Proclamation Light Bicentennial (Pregón del Bicentenario Luz de Quito), with the participation of Venezuelan violinist Alexis Cardenas, Argentine pianist Lito Vitale, Chilean multi-instrumentalist Mauricio Vicencio and others, made on August 1, 2009, on Independence Square. He is creator of the soundtrack of documentary-fiction film Saraguro with Sangre Inca, performed by the Symphony Orchestra of Loja (Orquesta Sinfónica de Loja), Choir of the Technical University of Loja (Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja), National University of Loja (Universidad Nacional de Loja) and folk group Temporal, the film is going to debut in May 2010. Currently he is the musical director of Tuhuamari and Pueblo Nuevo bands, and combines his activities as a composer and musician with the musical research and production of various artistic groups.

• In 1998, he became finalist and earned a third place in the First Biennial Exhibition of Ecuadorian Music (Primera Bienal de Música Ecuatoriana), organized by the painter Oswaldo Guayasamin.
• In 2000, he received an honorable mention in the First Latin American Flute Players Meeting (Primer Encuentro Latinoamericano de Flautas) in Caracas, Venezuela, in the category Composition for Flute Orchestra.
• In 2006, he was the finalist in the First National Biennial Exhibition of Music Composition and Interpretation of Ecuador (Primer Concurso Bienal de Composición e Interpretación de Música Nacional del Ecuador), organized by the Ecuadorian Culture House (Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana) and Contest of Rescue Fund of Cultural Heritage (Fondo de Salvamento del Patrimonio Cultural de Quito, FONSAL), Quito.
• Winner of the 2007 Cultural Project convened by the Ministry of Culture of Ecuador, in the category Recording Project, he got the prize consisting of the publication and distribution of selected material on compact discs produced by the institution.