Dr. Juan Pablo Andrade
Costa Rican pianist Juan Pablo Andrade is the recipient of numerous awards, among them are the First Prize at the Artlivre International Piano Competition in Sao Paulo, Brazil; First Prize in the National Piano Competition in CR; First Prize in the Concert of Soloists Competition at Arizona State University; First Prize at the UNCG Concerto Competition and Second Prize in the University of Costa Rica Concerto Competition.
He has performed as soloist with the South Bend Symphony, the Greensboro Symphony, the University of North Carolina Greensboro Symphony, the Arizona State University Symphony, the University of Costa Rica Symphony, the Cartago Symphony (CR), the Central American Symphony, the Bolivian National Symphony, the Costa Rican Youth Symphony, and in many occasions with the Costa Rican National Symphony. Recent performances include his return to the Costa Rican National Symphony with Mozart Concerto No. 26, Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Powder River Symphony in Gillette, Wyoming, and Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 “Emperor” with the UCR Symphony Orchestra at Costa Rica’s National Theater. Conductors he has collaborated with include Alejandro Gutierrez, Gabriela Mora, Norman Gamboa, Ivan Arguedas, Chosei Komatsu, Irwin Hoffmann, Kaisa Roose, Ricardo del Carmen, Mathew Troy and Timothy Russel. As a recitalist he has appeared throughout the United States, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Mexico, Bolivia, Brazil, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Norway, Greece and Spain. Many of his performances have been recorded and broadcasted by the Phoenix Classical Radio Station KBAK, Costa Rican University Radio and Costa Rican National Television. He is also a very active chamber musician and a member of the Aegina Trio with Dr. Betul Soykan and Dr. Katherine Decker. His recent duo CD with violinist Betul Soykan titled War to Peace (CRC 3666) and featuring works by Ferguson, Prokofiev and Messiaen received very favorable in reviews in Fanfare magazine. Other musicians he has collaborated with include Margaret Lattimore, Kenneth Grant, Bonita Boyd and Frederic St. Pierre.
He has also been awarded the National Prize of Music, the highest recognition given to a musician by the Costa Rican Ministry of Culture. Andrade obtained the Bachelors and Licenciatura in Music degrees from the University of Costa Rica in San José; the Masters of Music from Arizona State University, an Artist Diploma from Indiana University-South Bend and a Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He has served as Visiting Assistant Professor of Piano at Idaho State University, Lecturer of Piano at UNCG, and is currently Associate Professor of Piano at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, in Brownsville. Dr. Andrade is also a faculty member at the SemperMusic International Summer Music Festival in the Italian Alps.