Ricardo Acosta

Ricardo Acosta, pianist, conductor, and composer, is praised for his exceptional sensitivity, unique musical voice, and versatility. Born in Mexico and now living in Bern, Acosta boasts an illustrious career adorned with numerous national and international awards and scholarships.

Acosta's diverse projects have taken him around the globe: he has performed in the USA, the Czech Republic, Thailand, Russia, France, and Switzerland. He excels as both a soloist and chamber musician and has collaborated with prestigious orchestras such as the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra, the Bern Sinfonietta, the Proton Ensemble, Musica Nova, and the Eastman Philharmonia. His repertoire includes collaborations with renowned conductors such as Brad Lubman, Neil Varon, Dmitri Orlov, and Patrick Jüdt.

A constant innovator, Acosta is dedicated to reviving historical practices while simultaneously exploring new musical frontiers. His programs often feature his own improvisations and cadenzas within performances of concertos by Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven. He curates eclectic concerts, blending forgotten works by past masters with contemporary compositions by Latin American, European, and American composers, creating vibrant and captivating experiences for his audiences.

In 2016, Acosta graduated from the prestigious Eastman School of Music with a degree in piano and composition, where he studied with renowned pedagogue and Van Cliburn Competition winner Barry Snyder, as well as composers Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon and Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez. That same year, he received the Swiss Excellence in Arts Scholarship to pursue a master's degree at the Bern University of the Arts, where he studied piano with Professor Tomasz Herbut and orchestral conducting with Florian Ziemen.

Since 2020, Acosta has been a piano teacher at the Bern Conservatory of Music and a répétiteur in Florian Ziemen's orchestral conducting class. He is the musical director of the Workshopera Bern, with which he has participated in projects such as Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro and Die Zuaberflöte, and Cimarosa's Il Matrimonio Segreto.