Festival Cellisimo: a transformative cello festival for Spanish speaking cellists
Cellisimo 2025 End of Year Campaign
Cellisimo Festival provides access to transformative, high-level music learning and community building for Spanish-speaking advanced cellists of limited resources
Since its launch, the Cellisimo Festival has been deeply impactful for its participants. So far, 79 highly talented cellists from 12 countries have benefited from this program and have expressed its transformative impact. We were thrilled to offer this program for the fifth time for a very select 20 stellar musicians, ages 15-24, from all over Latin America!
The central mission of Cellisimo is access. A mission to take away barriers for young highly talented Latin American cellists so that they can fulfill their potential and be the next generation of leaders in classical music. This festival provides them this opportunity and it couldn't happen without a community of supporters. Your support means opening the door for these cellists. And this festival opens the door VERY wide for them.
What does Cellisimo provide for its participants? The festival provides incredibly dedicated cellists with access to renowned international faculty, individual lessons and masterclasses, special sessions, transformative wellness classes, and the opportunity to network and form relationships that are integral to career development and success. The festival is entirely run in Spanish.
2025 Faculty The Cellisimo 2025 Experience, in the words of Nicole Hernandez:
image.png1023.06 KB More from alumni who participated in the Cellisimo festivals:
"This festival was created with so much love, attention, and detail so that the students would feel very comfortable in their development as a person and musician" - Cristhian Requejo, Peru
"This festival is my favorite thanks to its humanity and warmth. We often forget that we're not the only ones who are tired, who have insecurities, who feel inadequate. But thanks to all the sessions at this festival, I am going to be more patient and work hard from a place of love, not fear! Thank you so much." - Arlette Santiago, Mexico
"The Cellísimo Festival TRANSFORMS you, it opened my mind and heart. It gave me a broader perspective of music, and taught me the importance of my emotional wellbeing, it leaves me with great personal goals, and it gives me tools to connect with myself as a person and as a musician. It's a project capable of transforming the lives of each of us, who have had the opportunity to go through it, a project that INNOVATES, changes." - Juanita Ardilla, Colombia
"To be part of a unique community like this one is the best gift anyone could give me. I found myself surrounded by people that love music and cello like I do, and who I was able to communicate with in my native language. That was a priceless experience and I will never forget it" - Adan Caldera, Venezuela/Panama
"It had a very big impact on me, I had always wanted to be in a cello festival but I had never had the opportunity for financial reasons. I learned a lot from each teacher and each participant... it was a wonderful festival where my perspective shifted on many things in music and in my life. I am so thankful." -Nancy Olivares, Mexico
Cellisimo success stories Here are some of the impact and success that Cellisimo alumni had post festival participation: -Andrés Perez (Cellisimo '21 and '22) was accepted to Bard Conservatory to work with Peter Wiley and will graduate soon.
-Nancy Olivares (Cellisimo '21, 22' and 23') won First Prize at the National Cello Competition in Mexico and is has graduated with full scholarship at the Univ. of Rhode Island in the studio of Michal Shein (Cellisimo Artistic Director). She is pursuing an Artist Diploma at TCU in fall of 2025.
-Cristian Sanchez (Cellisimo '21) was accepted to USM School of Music for the fall of 2021. He was the soloist with the orchestra in the fall of 2025.
-Several alumni have been accepted to the OAcademy Conservatory Program: Cristhian Requejo, Alanis Perez, Piero Arcos, Tamara Solano, and Grecia Villarreal.
-Tere Cordova, who was on the verge of quitting cello prior to the 2021 festival, graduated from Conservatorio Nacional de Música in Mexico City in spring 2022.
-Adán Caldera (Cellisimo '22) was accepted through Cellisimo recommendation to the Virtual Cello Summer Festival in 2021 and was accepted at Oberlin Conservatory for fall of 2021. He is soon graduating.
-Alonso Restrepo (Cellisimo '22) began studies with faculty member Christine Lamprea in the fall of 2022 and has graduated. -Arlette Santiago, Diego Chavez, Betzabeth Vicent and Camila Vargas are pursuing studies in Europe.
How can students access this transformative experience?
Tuition to the festival is US$2,000. The only way the selected cellists can have access to this type of opportunity is through a full scholarship.The students come from limited means and resources. They depend on scholarships in their own countries in order to pursue their current musical studies.
Your donation helps grow our scholarship fund so that we can make this experience possible for these stellar students.
Your donation means IMPACT and TRANSFORMATION
Your donation not only goes toward the scholarship fund, but also to expand programs that Cellisimo would like to offer , such as in-person workshops, alumni events and a program for students 24-30 years old. With your help, we can continue to give access to this unique experience to highly talented students, and be able to expand our reach even more.
We hope you will join the growing community of donors who have teamed together to support these incredible musicians from across Latin America. Your donation enables these students to have the most incredible and transformative experience and helps catapult them to become the next leaders in the classical music industry. The Cellisimo alumni are already changing the landscape of classical music in Latin America and beyond. Help us grow this legacy!
We invite you to become part of the growing Cellisimo family, who together, create change and transformation!
