I still have beautiful childhood memories from my grandfather, the only musician of the family. He left me some of the most important skills a kid should have: how to ride a bike, how to read the time on the clock and how to enjoy and love the piano music. His musical legacy has been the engine of my life.
My mother enrolled me at the National Conservatory after my grandpa passed away. There I met the great composers and their masterworks while clandestinely I attended the rehearsals of the Philharmonic of Bogota. My passion for music had been born.
Later, during my adolescence, a friend gave me an audio cassette of Latin music which had some mambo and salsa tunes. At the beginning, I didn’t like it, but later I discovered how the piano played in very rhythmically and lively loops. That I liked! So, I started to copy the patterns by listening and, at the age of 16, I joined my first professional band with which I traveled around all my country.
In 2000, while I was a student at the Caribe-Ibero American Music program at the Arts College of Bogota, a huge challenge was presented to me. I had an opportunity to participate in a piano competition in the U.S.A. I participated and twice won the Charlie Palmieri Piano Latino Competition at the Harbor Conservatory of New York City. There I had the opportunity to study with some of the best exponents of Latin Jazz and Afro Cuban music.
Parallel to my experience in the Big Apple as a student, performer, arranger and musical director, there is one more passion in my life. It is to share with others my modest knowledge. Teaching and transmitting to children the wonders of music are also very important in my life. Every time I see a smile that the power of a beautiful melody causes in a child’s face, I thank life for a gift that embellishes many of our moments.
