Alberto Peña was born in Malaga, Colombia in 1988. He began his piano studies in Bogota at age 14 under Pilar Leyva, a pupil of Claudio Arrau. He graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Music degree from the Juan N. Corpas University. In 2007, he moved to the United States to study with the renowned pianist Joaquín Achúcarro at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. In May 2009 he received the Master of Music degree from SMU, where he is currently pursuing an Artist Certificate. Additionally, he has received lessons from Horacio Gutierrez, Anthony di Bonaventura, Rolf Plagge, Julian Martin, Arie Vardi and Alfred Mouledous.
Alberto has performed in major venues in South and Central America, Europe and the USA. He has appeared as a soloist with the Unimusica Orchestra, The Tolima Conservatory Symphony, the Bogota Philharmonic Orchestra, the Meadows Symphony Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra of Panama. He has also been a prizewinner in national and international competitions in Colombia, Venezuela, Costa Rica and the USA. At SMU, he was elected by the faculty to join the Pi Kappa Lambda National Music Honor Society and he was awarded the Harold von Mickwitz Prize in Piano.
In recent years, Alberto has been chosen to perform in masterclasses of, among others, Menahem Pressler, Blanca Uribe, Peter Efler, Louis Lortie and Simon Trpceski. During the past summers he has attended the Bowdoin International Music Festival (Brunswick, ME), The Brandywine International Piano Institute (West Chester, PA), The Eutherpe Foundation Masterclasses for Pianists and Conductors in León (Spain), The International Summer Academy of the Mozarteum in Salzburg (Austria), and the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena (Italy).
