José Manuel García, born in Caracas, Venezuela, graduated from Emil Friedman Conservatory in 1992. He received his BM in piano performance from Clayton State College in 1997 and his MM in piano performance from Georgia State University in 2001. He is currently a DMA candidate studying with Dr. Evgeny Rivkin. His prizes include the Spivey Foundation Scholarship, the Fundación Mariscal de Ayacucho Scholarship, first prize at the 1991 Harriet Serr Piano Competition, and second prize at the 1994 Moisés Moleiro National Piano Competition. José is also a 2001 GMTA Convention Recitalist and a winner of the 2002 UGA Concerto Competition. In 2004 he received the Madge Johnson Weir Award at the Beethoven Club's Eleventh Biennial International Beethoven Piano Sonata Competition, held in Memphis, Tennessee. José has performed with Emil Friedman Conservatory Symphony Orchestra, the Maracaibo Symphony Orchestra, University of Georgia Symphony Orchestra, the UGA Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, UGA Women’s and Men’s Glee Clubs, UGA University Chorus, Classic City Jazz, and Georgia Brass.

An accomplished Jazz pianist, José has also performed with Joe Lovano, Michael Philipp Mossman, Ray Vega, Bernard Linnette, Denis Springer, and Mitch Frohman. He is a cofounder of International Groove Conspiracy. In addition to that, he wrote all the original music on Beyond Horizon but also came up with an arrangement of Duke Ellington’s Caravan also found on this first album by International Groove Conspiracy.