Juan Pablo Contreras

Still in the student phase of his career as of 2020, composer Juan Pablo Contreras has already gained wide attention in Mexico, the U.S., and beyond. Contreras' music fuses classical elements with Mexican vernacular styles. Contreras was born in Guadalajara, Mexico, in 1987. His mother was a concert pianist, and he grew up in a classical music environment. As a teen, he took up the bass and began playing with a metal band called Life Keeper, but that, ironically, took him back to classical music: his bandmates expressed a desire to create music with an orchestral element. Con...