José Sequeira Martínez

Born and raised in Costa Rica, violinist José Sequeira Martínez grew up surrounded by nature and music. Originally from the Caribbean province of Limón, José traveled regularly through the rainforest mountains of his home country to obtain his musical education at the National Institute of Music, where he graduated with honors in 2024.

José has attended Sewanee Summer Music Festival (2017), National Symphony Orchestra’s Summer Music Institute at the Kennedy Center (2018 & 2019, performing as concertmaster and associate concertmaster), International Music Festival of SIFAIS & Sound Impact (2019), Curtis Summerfest’s Young Artists Summer Program (2020), and Huilo Huilo Music Festival (2022 & 2023), where he was selected Winner of the Huilo Huilo Young Soloists Competition and awarded a custom made violin by Luthier Anton Ibacache.

This year José served as concertmaster of the UNCSA Symphony Orchestra on its tour of Washington, DC, and he performed in recital in Raleigh as first-prize winner of the North Carolina Symphony’s Bryan Young Artist Competition. He is studying with Kevin Lawrence at UNCSA as a recipient of the UNCSA/Winston-Salem Symphony Strings Fellowship.