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 José Alicea
Espada has established himself as a soloist, pedagogue, chamber, and
orchestral musician. His versatility as an artist includes: producing,
directing, and performing. For many years he was the percussionist
of the Casals Festival Orchestra, the Puerto Rico Symphony and has
been also a Latin Percussionist for many artists in San Juan. As a
soloist, he has performed with Ravi Shankar and the Puerto Rico Symphony.
Mr. Alicea is also the first Puerto Rican to present solo marimba
recitals in Puerto Rico. His talents include producing and directing
highly successful endeavors with various artists which combined the
art of pantomime with music. In 1986 he founded "Solistas de Puerto
Rico", a chamber group which was hailed in the local press for
its high artistic achievements. In 1995, Mr. Alicea founded and directed
the International Percussion Festival of Puerto Rico, which has successfully
become an annual event. This festival presents the art of percussion
from a global, educational and professional perspective. Mr. Alicea
has had extensive experience as a pedagogue, teaching percussion ensembles
as well as individual students. He has conducted percussion ensembles
from the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Venezuela and Puerto Rico and
also worked together with Cachete Maldonado in the project "Sinfónica
de Tambores" which presented the top Latin Percussionists
in Puerto Rico, sponsored by Latin Percussion .
He has also received accolades from graduate schools in the United
States for being a successful teacher. Since 1982, Mr. Alicea has been
a member of both the faculty of the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music
CMPR and the annual Festival of Inter-American Youth Orchestras where
he has taught and conducted. Mr Alicea is a member of the Percussive
Arts Society PAS and for the last five years he's been on the PAS Board
of Directors. He is also a PAS Chapter President for Puerto Rico. He
has had the honor of studying under George Gaber, William Roberts,
Randall Eyles, Leigh Howard Stevens, Roger Faulmann and Charlie Owen.
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