Monica Santos-Nordelo is shown in a publicity photo that was taken by Kreative Light Photography.

Santos-Nordelo's piano skills eventually paved the way to America

At the age of 7, Cuban native and current Alleghany resident Monica Santos-Nordelo put her fingers to the 88 keys, and she hasn't taken her hands of them since.

Of her fascination with the piano, Nordelo recalled, "I would always be singing. Next door, I didn't know, but there was a piano teacher that listened. I started taking piano lessons. I didn't even know I was good; she said I was good and that I had potential, so she went to my mom and she said to take me to the conservatory. So, that's what Mom did. I went to the conservatory…"

Specifically, Santos-Nordelo studied at the Manuel Saumell Conservatory of Music in Cienfuegos, Cuba. "I would go in the morning to piano, music theory, music appreciation and in the afternoon, I would go to math, science…," she said.

Although her parents Mayda and Guillermo Santos did not have a background in music, Nordelo noted, "After my first time of playing in elementary (school), I really didn't see myself doing anything else. I fell in love with it, that's what happened. After years in the conservatory I decided, 'I'll be a musician now.'"

In 2002, much to the surprise of herself and her family, she was awarded a visa, allowing her an artist residency at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts.

Husband Chris said, "It was a surprise to everyone that she got the visa through the residency. It's really hard to leave Cuba. (Her parents had) been trying to move the kids for 10 years and all of the sudden, she wins this residency. She called back home and said, 'Hey, I got a visa' and everybody's like 'What?'

A year later, she was in Virginia.

"For me, it was a big deal to come here because I got all these opportunities and I learned a lot…I got together with many different artists. In the states, what they'd do is you get a studio…you're not going to focus on your art (if) you're working all the time. What they (Virginia Center for the Creative Arts) do is give you a studio and that's it, you're free to create. You've got writers, painters, composers, and then I got together with all these artists and it's been great."

She later received a scholarship to attend Florida International University. There, she studied with pianist Jose Raul Lopez.

In 2004, she met and began dating Chris Nordelo, whom she married almost two years ago. In 2006, Mrs. Nordelo won a concerto competition in which she played one of Maurice Ravel's concertos.