Concerts with Juan Pablo Andrade, Kevin Mills and María Lourdes Lobo Arias
Week of July 18, 2026
“Reflections and Rhythms: A Piano Recital” by Juan Pablo Andrade
“Between Two Voices: An afternoon of Violin and Cello music” Lourdes Lobo (violin), Kevin Mills (cello)
“Johannes Brahms: Trio Opus 8 for violin, cello & piano” Lourdes Lobo, Kevin Mills, Juan Pablo Andrade
Juan Pablo Andrade, Juan Pablo Andrade is a renowned Costa Rican pianist with a dynamic stage and academic presence. He has earned top honors at international competitions and the Costa Rican National Prize of Music, and has performed widely as a soloist with various orchestras and at major festivals. A familiar ear with the Costa Rican National Symphony, he has toured the Americas and Europe, and his CD War to Peace received favorable reviews. In academia, he is a Professor of Piano at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and has taught at several prestigious universities. He also volunteers at international festivals and founded the La Frontera International Piano Conference in Brownsville, Texas, to foster musical exchange in the region.
Kevin Mills is a cellist from Orange County, California who studied under Darrett Adkins at both The Juilliard School and Oberlin Conservatory receiving his Masters in Cello Performance and Artist Diploma respectively. Kevin received his Bachelor of Music in Cello Performance from California State University of Fullerton and has toured, taught, and performed nation-wide and abroad in Denmark, Korea, Germany, Italy, Spain, France, and Hungary.
María Lourdes Lobo Arias
María Lourdes Lobo is a Costa Rican violinist and chamber musician whose entire life has been shaped by music. Trained in the Youth Program of the National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica, she earned her degree in Violin from the University of Costa Rica and further refined her artistry over two years of advanced study with the renowned Bulgarian violinist Krassimira Vaseva in Colombia — an experience that proved decisive in her development as a mature interpreter.
Throughout her career as a soloist, she has performed on stages across Costa Rica and South America, sharing the concert platform with ensembles of the caliber of the Symphony Orchestra of the University of Costa Rica, the Youth Symphony Orchestra of the National Music Institute, the National Symphony Orchestra, and the Philharmonic Orchestra of Cali, among others. In 2023, she was invited as guest soloist alongside the Chamber Orchestra of Terrassa, from Barcelona, at the BAC Credomatic International Music Festival, one of the region’s most prestigious musical gatherings. Her excellence as a performer was recognized in 2012 with the Best Performer of the Year Award, granted by the Costa Rican Ministry of Culture and Youth.
In the realm of chamber music, Lourdes founded the Alma String Quartet in 2005, an ensemble that has brought together outstanding musicians over the years and was reactivated in 2026 with new members, with performances at the National Theatre of Costa Rica and the Costa Rican Art Museum. Together with Brazilian pianist Rubia Santos, she forms Dúo Alma, a project born five years ago and crowned by the complete recording of Beethoven’s ten Sonatas for violin and piano — the result of two years of sustained work. The CD is scheduled for release in the second half of 2026. The duo has carried their music beyond Latin American borders: in 2026 they performed at the University of California, Riverside, in a concert that featured world premieres of works composed especially for them by student composers at that institution.
Alongside her artistic work, between 2021 and 2024 Lourdes served as a professor of Violin at the National Music Institute of Costa Rica, bringing to that role the same dedication and rigor that have defined her entire career.