violin
Francisco Cabán is a violinist and educator whose career spans solo, chamber, and orchestral performance. He has appeared at important international festivals such as the Casals Festival, Inter-American Festival of the Arts, Clazz International Music Festival (Italy), and FOOSA (California).
As Professor of Violin and Chamber Music at the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music, he founded both the Violin and Strings Festivals, which have featured distinguished artists including Guillermo Figueroa, Federico Agostini, José Francisco del Castillo, Sergiu Schwartz, Nancy Zhou, Miroslav Hristov, the Harlem String Quartet, and members of the Catalyst Quartet.
Dr. Cabán is a dedicated pedagogue whose students have soloed with orchestras, won competitions, and received scholarships to institutions such as the Cleveland Institute of Music, Indiana University, University of Michigan, Bard College, and Lynn University. Many are now members of the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra.
A founding member of the Sanromá Piano Trio (2015), in residence at the Puerto Rico Conservatory, Cabán has performed major cycles including the Beethoven and Brahms trios, and works by Shostakovich, Arensky, Turina, Piazzolla, Miguel del Águila, Roberto Sierra, and others.
As soloist, he has performed with conductors such as Maximiano Valdés, Roselín Pabón, and Guido López Gavilán across orchestras in Puerto Rico, Mexico, Cuba, and the U.S. He currently serves as 3rd Chair, First Violins, in the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra, having previously been a member of the Austin Symphony Orchestra.
Cabán studied at the Puerto Rico Conservatory and completed graduate degrees at Temple University and the University of Texas at Austin. He has taught and performed widely across the Americas and Europe, and is on faculty at FOOSA (California), as well as a regular guest at Clazz Italy and the Killington Music Festival.
His award-winning recordings Ola nocturna and Ola diurna highlight major Latin American repertoire, featuring collaborators Ivonne Figueroa, Cármelo de los Santos, and Kevin Class.