Juan Esteban Martinez

Dominican clarinetist Juan Esteban Martinez joined the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra as Principal Clarinet in September of 2023. He is a graduate of the Yale School of Music and the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University. In 2022, he was the 1st prize winner of the Sphinx Orchestral Partners Auditions (SOPA) Excerpt Competition.

Juan has appeared as soloist numerous times with the National Symphony Orchestra of the Dominican Republic, performing works of Carl Nielsen, Jean Françaix, Gioachino Rossini and Bienvenido Bustamante. He made his debut at the age of 15 performing Rossini’s Introduction, Theme and Variations in a traditional concert that was live- streamed on national television. He has been a featured soloist with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Caldas in Colombia, the Texas Music Festival Orchestra and the Coeur d’Alene Symphony. In 2019, he was selected by concert pianist Gabriela Montero to conform the Gabriela Montero Ensemble, a group that went on to perform a program of Montero’s original compositions at the prestigious Victoria Hall in Geneva, Switzerland.

Prior to joining the New Jersey Symphony, Juan was the acting second clarinetist of the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra for the 2022-2023 season, and a member of The Orchestra Now. He participated in the New York String Orchestra Seminar for two years in a row giving sold-out concerts at Carnegie Hall. He has also appeared with the Sphinx Symphony Orchestra, Classical Tahoe Orchestra, Kalamazoo Symphony, CMI Orchestra, Symphony in C, Princeton Symphony, the National Repertory Orchestra, the National Orchestral Institute + Festival and the Orchestra of the Americas, among others. His professional training includes study with David Shifrin and Anthony McGill.