Bogotá Piano Trio

The Bogotá Piano Trio, integrated by Mauricio Arias-Esguerra (piano), Juan Carlos Higuita (violin) and Ivan León (cello) are three outstanding musicians from Colombia. They met together with the aim to approach new generations and audiences through concerts dedicated to the classical and contemporary repertoire, as well as arrangements of popular songs from Latin America, with special attention to Colombian compositions.

Since its foundation, the Bogotá Piano Trio has premiered several works and has performed in different venues around Latin America, such as the Gran Teatro Nacional del Perú, Universidad de las Artes de Guayaquil (Ecuador), Teatro Mayor Julio Mario Santo Domingo, Teatro Colón de Bogotá, Festival Internacional de Música de Cartagena, Festival Internacional de Música de Cámara de Barranquilla, Encuentro Nacional de Música de Cámara de la Universidad de Antioquia, Festival Internacional de Piano Suprematismo Sonoro (Ibagué), Festival de Música Ciudad de Cúcuta, among others. 

In 2023 they will publish the integral of chamber music by Antonio María Valencia for the record label “Egea Suramérica” and some video clips with covers of popular themes of our century in the classical format of Piano trio, where new sonorities can be explored. 

Mauricio Arias-Esguerra (Piano), as a pianist, one of his projects is the promotion of pieces by contemporary Colombian composers. He has published two piano solo albums produced by Toccata label: ¡Colombia Viva! and ¡Colombia Viva! Vol. 2, both albums focused on the contemporary music of his native Colombia. Award-winning pianist at Kingsville, Schmidbauer, Peabody Mason, USasu Bösendorfer, Panama City piano competitions. In Colombia, he was the winner of the 1st Fryderyk Chopin National Piano Competition and the UIS National Piano Competition. He studied piano with Ludmila Weber (Corpas University, BM), Baruch Meir and Robert Hamilton (Arizona State University, DMA). 

He developed studies of composition with Rodney Rogers and Jorge Pinzón, in addition to participating in various courses with renowned composers such as James DeMars, Zygmunt Krauze, Zhou Long, Philippe Manoury, Martijn Padding, Paul Patterson, Alessandro Solbiati, Simon Steen-Andersen, Chen Yi. His works include commissions by the National Symphony Orchestra of Colombia, University of Florida Symphonic Band, Bogotá Department of Education, and also he has collaborated with singer Valeriano Lanchas, trumpeter Pacho Flores, violinist Aisha Syed, among others. Mauricio is currently assistant professor at Universidad de los Andes in Colombia. Founding member of Bogotá Piano Trio. His albums also include “La trompeta camaleónica” (in collaboration with trumpeter Randy Lee).

Scores available through Filarmonika.com

Juan Carlos Higuita (Violin) Standing out within the Colombian music scene and thanks to his recognized trajectory, with a Latin Grammy nomination, Juan Carlos Higuita, covers with great versatility and dexterity a wide repertoire. He is a rare specialist: an instrumentalist who has bet everything on contemporary Latin American Music.

Juan Carlos Higuita completed his undergraduate and master 's studies in violin with academic excellence at the Vienna University of Music, the Vienna Conservatory in Austria and the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana.

He has joined important chamber music groups, one of whom was the renowned string quartet Q-Arte as principal violinist, participating in several recording sessions and receiving a nomination for the Classical Next awards.

He is currently professor of Violin and Chamber Music at the National University of Colombia and the “Pontificia Universidad Javeriana”; member of the “Sociedad de Cámara de Bogotá”, the  CG ensemble, and the Bogotá Piano Trio with whom he joined his musical purpose, to approach new generations and audiences through concerts dedicated to the Latin American repertoire and arrangements of popular songs. 

Iván León (Cello), began his musical studies in Bogota at the Conservatory of the National University of Colombia and later, at the age of fifteen, traveled to Italy to study cello and chamber music with Enrico Bronzi (professor at the Mozarteum Salzburg) and the Trio di Trieste. 

He graduated from the undergraduate and master 's degree at the Conservatorio A. Boito di Parma di Parma with the highest honors with maestro Enrico Contini, obtaining the degree Laurea Cum Laude. Among his main teachers are Enrico Bronzi (Italy), Marianne Chen (USA), Othmar Muller (Austria), Susanne Muller Hornbach (Germany) and Giovanni Gnocchi (Italy).

He has won international prizes in the chamber music category of the Bonoris and Nuovi Orizzonti competitions and in the soloist category of the Zamparo competition in Modena. He has performed in chamber ensembles at the National Theatre, Covent Garden and the Crush Room in London, Teatro Verdi in Trieste and Teatro Regio di Parma, Teatro Colón and Teatro Mayor Julio Mario Santo Domingo in Bogotá, among others.

His extensive experience has led him to collaborate with leading orchestras such as the SBS London Orchestra (co-principal cellist), St. Martin in the Fields, BBC Symphony, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Southbank Orchestra, Busoni of Trieste and the National Jeugd Orkest in Holland.

He is currently cellist of the Bogota Piano Trio, the string quartet of the National Symphony of Colombia and professor at the Javeriana University.