Biografía en Español

José Luis Hernández-Estrada
Pianist and Conductor, Music Educator
Artistic Director, Festival Internacional de Piano Reynosa
Music Director, NUCAM Orchestra Program - Núcleo Reynosa
National System of Youth and Children's Orchestras of Mexico

Pianist and conductor José Hernández-Estrada is the founding music director and conductor of the Núcleo Comunitario de Aprendizaje Musical “Reynosa”, Mexico’s largest community youth orchestra program modeled after Venezuela’s El Sistema. He holds a Bachelor of Music from Texas Christian University in Fort Worth and completed post-graduate studies in performance at the Conservatori del Liceu in Barcelona. He is a Master of Music degree candidate at the University of Texas Pan-American and a recipient of the 2010 ITCA-FONCA career development grant. Hernandez-Estrada has performed as a solo recitalist throughout Mexico, and in Oslo, Barcelona, Tarragona (Auditori Pau Casals), Sioux Falls (Dakota Sky), and Miami. Other professional highlights include performances of concerti by Rachmaninov and Manuel M. Ponce with the Fürther Streichhölzer in Germany, engagements with Mexico’s National Youth Orchestra for capacity audiences in Mexico City's National Arts Center, the Fort Worth Chamber Orchestra (under conductor Ian Hobson), and collaborative concerts in Atlanta, Indianapolis, New York, Dallas, and at the II Fiesta Iberoamericana de las Artes in Puerto Rico. Recent concert appearances include a performance at the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series in Chicago and an extensive educational concert series at the Tenth Festival Internacional Tamaulipas (Mexico). During 2009, Hernandez-Estrada led the Orquesta Sinfónica Juvenil Carlos Chavez (Mexico's leading youth orchestra), and was named a Conducting Fellow to The Conductor’s Institute at Bard College in New York where he studied under Leon Botstein. He was also selected by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, as one of three finalists for a conducting post at Youth Orchestra LA, the signature project of Gustavo Dudamel. His most influential conducting mentors and teachers include Peter Dabrowski, Jorma Panula, and Apo Hsu. An advocate of music education and a gifted communicator, his enlightening outreach performances have received critical acclaim and reached thousands of school-age children. An accomplished chamber musician and teaching artist, he has served as a faculty member of the Austin Chamber Music Center and the Van Cliburn Foundation’s Musical Awakenings® program. Hernandez-Estrada is the founder and artistic director of the Festival International de Piano Reynosa (Mexico), a cultural event presenting world class pianists and musicians in solo recitals, lectures, and educational concerts. He also serves as the Director of Education of the Dakota Sky International Piano Festival in South Dakota. An avid proponent of new music and innovative approaches to programming, Hernandez-Estrada is a laureate of the 2006 JK Hodges Contemporary Piano Performance Award and has collaborated in interdisciplinary performances with renowned artists in various fields. He is a voting member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the music advocacy organization that bestows the annual GRAMMY® Awards. For more info visit his artist website at www.joseherstrada.com.