Sunday, February 22, 2026
1:00 pm EST
WPAC Concert Hall
Sunday, February 22, 2026
3:00 pm EST
WPAC Instrumental Hall
Free admission
2026 MIGF Festival Pass
is available to attend all festival events at a single reduced price: $100 general, $70 senior/FIU faculty, staff, & alumni, $30 student
Liamna Pestana Roche is a Cuban-born guitarist, singer, and scholar whose artistry bridges the worlds of early plucked instruments and the modern guitar. Born in Ciego de Ávila, Cuba, she began her musical training at an early age at the School of Arts Nola Sahig with María del Carmen Reyes. She continued her studies at the Conservatory José White in Camagüey with Félix Puig and Pedro Lázaro Suárez on classical guitar, and with Efraín Amador and Elizabeth Miranda Ramos on the Cuban tres—a three-course, pear-shaped lute central to Cuban son and música campesina. At Havana’s Institute of Arts, she refined her training with Alejandro González, while also benefiting from the guidance of Martín Pedreira, Eduardo Martín, and Efraín Amador.
Her artistic formation was enriched through masterclasses with leading guitarists and lutenists, including Jason Vieaux, Adam Levin, João Luiz, Jesús Ortega, Isaac Nicola, Leo Brouwer, Iliana Matos, Víctor Pellegrini, Julio César Oliva, Konrad Junghänel, and Mónica Pustilnik. Her studies in early music deepened through seminars on historical notation at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM, 2009–2011, 2014).
Liamna has been recognized in numerous competitions, winning Third Prize at the National Amadeo Roldán Competition (1995, Havana), Second Prize in the Guitar Competition Miguel Aguiló in Memoriam (1996, Camagüey), and awards for her performance on the Cuban tres, including Third Prize at the State Music Competition Luis Casas Romero (1998, Camagüey).
Her versatility as both performer and composer led to collaborations with diverse ensembles, including the traditional Cuban music group Identidad, Coral Negro, theater groups Polichinela and Teatro Primero, and choirs such as Coravila and the Cuban Radio and TV Choir, in which she also performed. Her passion for early music began in Havana with the ensemble El Gremio, directed by soprano Raquel Rubí, Gertrudis Vargas, and Alain Alfonso.
In Cuba, she performed in many of the nation’s most prestigious venues and festivals, including the Iglesia de Paula, National Theater Federico García Lorca, Basilica of San Francisco de Asís, Museum of Contemporary Arts, Casa de las Américas, Teatro Mella, Teatro Amadeo Roldán, Teatro Principal of Camagüey, and Teatro La Caridad in Santa Clara, among others.
Relocating to Mexico in 2004, Liamna became a frequent guest at major festivals, including the International Guitar Festival in Saltillo (2004) and the Querétaro Guitar Festival (2012). From 2009 to 2014 she appeared in early music festivals across Mexico (Morelia, Zacatecas, Ciudad de México, Veracruz, Monterrey, Hidalgo, San Luis Potosí, among others), performing as a soloist and with ensembles such as Segrel and Cantiga Armónica México, the latter of which she founded and directed. With Cantiga Armónica she toured internationally, performing at the Sacred Music Festival of Colombia (2014), the Göteborg Baroque Festival in Sweden (2012), and throughout Argentina as part of the Ibermúsica International Program (2014). She also appeared regularly as a soprano soloist with the San Luis Potosí Sinfonietta under maestro Gilberto Núñez, and as a lute soloist in Vivaldi’s Concertos for Lute and for Lute with Viola d’Amore (2010).
Her Mexican years also saw performances at major venues such as the Palacio de Bellas Artes, Sala Nezahualcóyotl, Museo Nacional del Virreinato, and the Guelaguetza Auditorium. She recorded multiple albums, including Fantasía and Toquen los Rabeles with Cantiga Armónica México and the Tilaco Children’s Choir, as well as La lírica medieval hispánica and Un Sarao en Chalco with Segrel Ensemble.
From 2014 to 2016, she resided in Argentina, performing Baroque guitar and archlute with Camerata Eleutheria (directed by Manuel Marina) and the Santa Fe Polyphonic Choir under maestro Sergio Siminovich.
Alongside her concert career, Liamna has taught guitar since 1998. In Cuba, she taught at the School of Arts of Ciego de Ávila (1998–2001) and the Manuel Saumell School of Arts in Havana (2001–2003). In Mexico, she served on faculty at the Autonomous University of Querétaro (2008–2010) and the National College of Contemporary Music (2009–2011). She also founded the Tilaco Children’s Early Music Ensemble in the Sierra Madre, which performed at festivals across Mexico under her direction. In Argentina, she pioneered a music program for older adults (2015), using instruments such as the bowed psaltery and Anglo-Saxon lyres to promote cognitive health and memory retention.
After moving to the United States in 2016, she pursued classical voice at Onondaga Community College (with Dr. David Rudari) and Syracuse University (with soprano Janet Brown), while completing her BM in Classical Guitar Performance, summa cum laude, under Dr. Kenneth Meyer. She subsequently earned a Master of Music in Classical Guitar from University of Miami, and is currently pursuing the Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music.
From 2016 to 2022 she performed regularly with the Schola Cantorum of Syracuse as both continuo player and soloist. She has given concerts and lectures for Upstate New York at Le Moyne College, Syracuse University’s Hendricks Chapel, La Casita Cultural Center, and the Rockus Fest International Festival in Brooklyn, NY (2019).
She is a member of the Lute Society of America, Early Music America, and the Guitar Foundation of America, and currently serves on the faculty of the New World School of the Arts in Miami, Her artistic mission is to reveal the guitar’s enduring voice across centuries, highlighting its role as both a cultural bridge and a living tradition.
