Driven by the goal of creating socially aware music that betters society, the Costa Rican pianist, composer, and educator José Soto experiments with classical music, Latin American rhythms, free improvisation, and jazz. His music studies took him to the Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica, New England Conservatory, and the Berklee Global Jazz Institute Master 's program at Berklee College of Music. In Costa Rica, he worked as a teacher at several respected institutions and performed and toured nationally and internationally with the most influential groups of his country. He has performed in many national and international festivals in Latin America, the USA, and Europe, and with internationally recognized artists, such as Luciana Souza, Chico Pinheiro, Francisco Mela, George Garzone, Danilo Perez, Cheo Feliciano, Eddie Daniels, among others. José teaches at Berklee College of Music in the Ear Training Department and Curry College in Milton, Massachusetts. He also recently released his debut album, “The Ancestral Call,” which embodies his passion of creating music that carries social awareness through its homage to the Bribri indigenous community of his native Costa Rica.