Dr. Juan Pablo Andrade in Concert

Costa Rican pianist Juan Pablo Andrade maintains a very active career as a performer and pedagogue. He is the recipient of numerous awards, most notably the Costa Rican National Prize of Music, a recognition given to a musician by the Costa Rican Ministry of Culture. Other awards include the First Prize at the Artlivre International Piano Competition in Sao Paulo, Brazil; and the First Prize in the Carlos Enrique Vargas National Piano Competition in CR.

As a soloist, he has performed with the South Bend Symphony (IN), the Greensboro Symphony (NC), the Powder River Symphony (WY), the Bolivian National Symphony, and on many occasions with the Costa Rican National Symphony, among many others. 2025 marks his return to the CR National Symphony for the premiere of Costa Rican composer Manuel Matarrita’s piano concerto. As a recitalist he has appeared throughout the United States, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Mexico, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, Brazil, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Serbia, Norway, Greece and Spain. Recent performances include solo recitals at the Yehudi Menuhin Forum in Bern, Switzerland, and at the World Piano Conference in Novy Sad, Serbia, as well as a piano solo recital tour of South America. His duo CD titled War to Peace, (Centaur Records 3666) and recorded with violinist Betul Soykan, received very favorable reviews in Fanfare magazine.

Dr. Andrade is a Professor of Piano at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. He has been on the faculty at Idaho State University and The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He obtained his Bachelors and Licenciatura in Music degrees from the University of Costa Rica, the Master 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. His mentors include Gerardo Duarte, Robert Hamilton, Alexander Toradze and John Salmon. He is a frequent guest faculty at international music festivals in the U.S., Colombia, and Italy. Dr. Andrade is the founder and artistic director of the newly created La Frontera International Piano Conference, in Brownsville, Texas.