Cristina Garcia Banegas
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 Cristina Garcia Banegas currently holds the positions of Professor and Chair of Organ Studies at the University Music School of Uruguay. She is also the Founder and Conductor of the Ensemble Vocal e Instrumental De Profundis, and is the Founder and Artistic Director of the International Organ Festival of Uruguay.
Ms. Banegas was a pupil of Renee Bonnet and Renee Pietrafesa in Montevideo, Uruguay, Lionel Rogg at the Conservatory in Geneva, Switzerland, where she received the Premier Prix de Vituosite, and Marie-Claire Alain at Rueil Malmaison’s Conservatory in Paris, France, where she received the Premier prix d’Excellence. Cristina’s intense activity as an organist has taken her to Europe, Latin America, the USA, Russia, and Japan. Her diverse recordings include J.S. Bach, and Spanish and Latin American baroque literature performed on period organs in Europe and Latin America, as well as some others as Conductor of the Ensemble Vocal De Profundis in Switzerland, France, Spain, Belgium, Germany, Bolivia, and Uruguay. Many of these recordings have received notable recognition, as well as international awards. Ms. Banegas has conducted many masterworks from the Baroque and Classical repertoire including Saint Matthew’s Passion and Mass in B Minor (J.S. Bach), Vesperae della Beata Vergine (Claudio Monteverdi), Vesperae Solemnes de Confessore and Mass in C Minor, K. 427 (W.A. Mozart), Messiah (G.F. Handel), Stabat Mater and Litany to the Virgin Mary (Karol Szymanowski), and Budavari Te Deum (Zoltan Kodaly). For the Baroque works she gathered together orchestras of period instruments. All of these performances were given extraordinary acclaim by national critics who described them as landmarks in the history of Uruguayan music. In 2006 Cristina received the Rotary “Pozos Del Rey” for artistic excellence. At Teatro Solis and Maldonado’s Cathedral in December 2006 and January 2007, respectively, she conducted Mozart’s Requiem with Ensemble Vocal De Profundis and the State Orchestra (SODRE). In addition she has released four new CD’s ~ two from the Bach Opera Omnia project at St. Mary’s Church in Gedinne and at the Hofkirche in Dresden. The third recording is dedicated to colonial organ music in Latin America, a live concert recording made at the Oude Kerk, Amsterdam. The fourth, an Italian edition, is a compendium with four outstanding international organists giving premieres of contemporary organ compositions. |