Bio

Aaron Cardenas is a classical guitarist, composer, and educator born and raised in Kaneohe on the island of Oahu. He graduated from the University of Hawaii in 2015 with a Bachelor of Music in guitar performance where he studied with Ian O’Sullivan. He continued his education at Yale where he was accepted on a full tuition scholarship to the Yale School of Music. There he would study with Benjamin Verdery and received a Masters of Music Degree and a Masters of Musical Arts in guitar performance. Aaron is now currently adjunct faculty at Honolulu Community College and Hawaii Tokai International College.

Aaron is an active performer and has performed in major venues all around the world. In 2019,  he performed in Carnegie Hall as both a soloist and part of an ensemble. He has also competed abroad and has played at classical guitar societies. As of recently, Aaron has dedicated a large portion of his time toward providing free concerts all around the island of Oahu in hopes of generating interest in the classical guitar. It’s his belief that someday the classical guitar can stimulate and enhance cultural continuity for Hawaii and its future musicians.  

Aaron is also an avid composer and arranger. He is currently working on solo works for the classical guitar in the genre of  “Hawaiian Classical Guitar”. It’s with this hybrid that combines both Hawaiian and Classical traditions that he hopes to contribute in the enrichment of Hawaiian culture. He is also working on transcribing and arranging Portuguese Baroque music and works by Japanese composer Nobuo Uematsu. 

Aaron currently plays on a guitar made by Stephan Connor and Slavko Mrdalj.