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Advanced Myotherapy

DORA CARDONA

Soprano

Known for the connections she sparks with audiences large and small, Colombian-American soprano Dora Cardona has performed as a guest soloist with the Seraphic Fire Choir and Orchestra, and with the National Zarzuela of Colombia. She’s also performed arias by Puccini with the Plucked Strings Folk Ensemble of Risaralda, an 80-member folk orchestra known for their innovative arrangements. Her diverse repertoire includes works by Villa-Lobos, Ravel, Amy Beach, Tchaikovsky, and Luis A. Calvo. 

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Ms. Cardona’s performance credits include a solo recital at the Luis Angel Arango Concert Hall in Bogotá, and a Latin Cabaret program for the Flanzer Concert Series in Sarasota, FL.

With the Philharmonic Orchestra of Cali and the Symphonic Brass Ensemble of Valle Ms. Cardona performed original arrangements by Colombian composer and conductor Alberto Guzman Naranjo. These arrangements included three Fauré songs and Manuel de Falla’s Siete Canciones Populares Españolas. Dora’s operatic roles have ranged from the flirtish Poppea in Handel’s Agrippina to the hopelessly devoted Elvira in Mozart’s Don Giovanni.
 
An award-winning interpreter of Colombian Andean Folk Music, Ms. Cardona’s accolades include multiple first prizes at the National Pasillo Festival Hermanos Hernandez, the National Bambuco Festival Luis Carlos González and at the Mono Nuñez Festival. Furthermore, she has premiered and recorded folk songs of Colombian composers Luis Enrique Aragón-Farkas, Ana Maria Naranjo, and Fabio Alberto Ramirez which are often broadcast on Colombian radio.

Committed to advancing and promoting Hispanic and Latin vocal music, Dora’s distinctive programming infuses both well-known and undiscovered treasures of this repertoire. Performing to sold-out crowds, Ms. Cardona has appeared at both the Ernesto Lecuona International Festival in Miami and at the International Festival of Cultures in Xalapa, Mexico. 

Apart from the stage, Ms. Cardona enjoys helping young singers find and develop their voices which has led to teaching opportunities in private and group settings. Currently, Ms. Cardona is a voice faculty member of the Musical Theatre Department at Elon University in NC. Her background as a licensed massage therapist allows her to ground her teaching style on the anatomical function of the voice. This is especially beneficial to the beginning students as they gain an early understanding of how their instrument really works.
 
As an artist, Ms. Cardona fully embraces the power of music to transcend frontiers and create connection and community among listeners. She participated in the Daniel Pearl Foundation’s Lullabies for Free Children project, a world-wide collaboration of composers and performers creating lullabies from children’s poems. Dora performed a set of these lullabies broadcast on NPR. Ms. Cardona continues to seek out projects that affirm unity and hope through music.