ORQUESTA LYRICA

He studied music performance at the University of Minnesota. In 1982, he came to Atlanta, Georgia. Enrique was the originator, bandleader, musical director and trombonist of many orchestras throughout his career as well as Orquesta Lyrica in Atlanta since 1986.

Today, Enrique continues as musical director and leader of Orquesta Lyrica. He is also musical director for the Atlanta Show Band, which back up international salsa vocalists from Latin America touring the Southeast region of the US. Dr. José Manuel Garcia is a Steinway Artist, award-winning jazz pianist, composer, arranger, orchestrator and music educator, whose musicianship in the classical repertoire has been highly recognized as well as in the jazz and Latin genres.

Prior to joining Gwinnett Symphony Jazz Orchestra, Dr. Garcia served as Assistant Professor of Piano and Theory at Miles College in Birmingham, Alabama. Over the past fifteen years, his work as a music educator, including seven years of college teaching experience at accredited institutions, has been greatly recognized by the students and the schools. As a jazz pianist, Dr. Garcia has been actively performing in Atlanta and throughout the United States with internationally acclaimed artists, such as Danny Harper, Michael Philipp Mossman, Ray Vega, Bill Summers, Kemba Cofield, Jennifer Holliday and many many others!

Dr. García’s latest CD, Cruz del Ávila, released in December 2010, is a solo piano project, in which Ahmad Jamal describes Dr. García’s pianism as “sensitive and brilliant.”