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The Uruguayan organist, conductor and music pedagogue, Cristina García Banegas, studied with Renée Bonnet and Renée Pietrafesa in Montevideo, Uruguay; Lionel Rogg at the Conservatory in Geneva, Switzerland, where she received the Premier Prix de Virtuosité; and Marie-Claire Alain at Rueil Malmaison’s Conservatory in Paris, France, where she received the Premier Prix d’Excellence avec Félicitations du Jury (1982). She perfected in various performig courses with teachers Monserrat Torrent, Guy Bovet, Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini, Ton Koopman, Stefano Innocenti, Gertrud Mersiovsky, Adelma Gómez, Héctor Zeoli and Jesús Gabriel Segade, among others. She obtained the 1st Prize of Virtuosity in the Geneve conservatoire (Switzerland), the Organ Echeverria Prize during the International Competition of Toledo (Spain) in 1981, and then the Prize of Professional Excellency, given by Pozos del Rey'‘s Rotary (2006). She later studied transverse flute at at Escuela Universitaria de Música (since December 2013).
Cristina García Banegas' intense activity as an organist has taken her to Europe, Latin America, the USA, Japan, Israel, 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, Holland, Germany, Bolivia, Argentina, Brasil and Uruguay. Many of these recordings have received notable recognition, as well as international awards.
Cristina García Banegas has conducted many masterworks from the Baroque and Classical repertoire including Saint Matthew’s Passion (BWV 244), Mass in B Minor (BWV 244), Magnificat (BWV 243), Christmas Oratorio (BWV 248), Cantatas (J.S. Bach), Vesperae della Beata Vergine (Claudio Monteverdi), Vesperae Solemnes de Confessore, Requiem and Mass in C Minor, K. 427 (W.A. Mozart); Messiah (George Frideric Handel); Stabat Mater and Litany to the Virgin Mary (Karol Szymanowski); Budavari Te Deum (Zoltán Kodály); German Requiem (Johannes Brahms, London version), etc. 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.
Cristina Garcia Banegas currently holds the positions of Professor and Chair of Organ Studies at the Escuela Universitaria de Música (EUM) de la Universidad de la República and of the Selección Coral del Colegio Inglés (the latter since December 2013). She also gives interpretation lessons in Spain, Switzerland, France, Columbia, Peru, Argentina, Bolivia, USA… 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, both founded in 1987. She shares her teaching activity with international concert tours in Europe, the USA, Japan, Russia and Latin America.
In 2007 Cristina Garcia Banegas received three distinctions: "Woman of the Year Prize" in the National Artistic Contest; the "ALAS" ("Wings") Prize for Artists and the Foundation Bank Itaú First Choir's Reward. In addition she has released four new CD's ~ two from the J.S. 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. She currently lives in Lives in Montevideo, Uruguay. |
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