Founded in 2008 and composed of guitarists Nicolás Alvarado, Manuel Durán, Julio Monge, and Edmundo Núñez, the Costa Rica Guitar Quartet has distinguished as one of the country’s most outstanding chamber ensembles, promoting the creation and international dissemination of Costa Rican and Latin American music.

The quartet has received the Costa Rican National Music Prize “Carlos Enrique Vargas,” second prize at the III Mexican Ensemble Competition, and the Award of the Costa Rican Association of Composers and Musical Authors (ACAM). The ensemble has performed in prestigious venues such as the Royal Opera House of Musical Arts in Muscat, Oman, the Maison de l’Amérique Latine in Paris, and the Centro Cultural Kirchner in Buenos Aires, as well as in academic institutions including University College London and the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, and Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, among others.

Their performances have taken them to countries including the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, Spain, the United States, Argentina, Mexico, Panama, Nicaragua, and Oman. They have participated in renowned festivals such as the Pepe Romero Guitar Festival, the Granada International Guitar Festival, the Emili Pujol Guitar Festival in Spain, the Guitarras del Mundo Festival in Argentina, and the Corazón de América International Guitar Festival in Nicaragua, among others.

The Costa Rica Guitar Quartet has released three recordings: “Eso es Imposible” (2011), “Noche Caribe” (2017), and “Arrecife Urbano” (2024), all of which have received excellent reviews. The quartet has also collaborated on albums such as “Compositores Nuevos... Visiones Nuevas: Música de Cámara Costarricense” (2012), “Desde las Entrañas de mi Tierra” (2012), “Nosotros” (2014), and “Haikus” (2023), which feature works by various Costa Rican composers.

The ensemble has premiered works by renowned composers and arrangers from Costa Rica, including Grammy Award winners Eddie Mora, Carlos José Castro, and Edín Solís, as well as Central American premieres of works by Celso Machado (Brazil) and Carlos Rafael Rivera (USA), in collaboration with the composers themselves.

In the symphonic field, the quartet has performed with the Cartago Municipal Symphony Orchestra and the Castella Conservatory Symphony Orchestra, performing Joaquín Rodrigo’s “Concierto Andaluz.” In addition, the quartet gave the world premiere of “Concierto de Uxarrací” by Carlos José Castro with the Cartago Municipal Symphony Orchestra, as well as the premiere of “Retorno – Concerto for Guitar Quartet and String Orchestra” by Edín Solís, in collaboration with the Heredia Symphony Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica. Both works were dedicated to the Costa Rica Guitar Quartet.

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