J. Andrés Ballesteros composes music for a wide range of ensembles (from middle school to professional) and media (from short films to apps) and teaches music at the Boston Arts Academy using innovative curricula and techniques.
He received his B. A. in Music in 2013 from Harvard University and also studied music at the European American Musical Alliance at the Schola Cantorum in Paris, France; at the highSCORE festival in Pavia, Italy; and at the Harvard Summer Composition Institute in Concord and Cambridge, MA. He has received a number of awards for his composition, including the 2012 John Green Fellowship from Harvard University and most recently the RED NOTE New Music Festival. He has collaborated with numerous musicians from around the world and seeks to engage with many musical traditions.
He teaches music history, music theory, ethnomusicology, and creative writing at the Boston Arts Academy, most of them using original curricula whose current focus includes emphasizing the role of women in music and highlighting international connections. He remains an active member of his community through work and engaged citizenship via the Franklin D. Roosevelt Foundation (working on environmental causes and global citizenship) and the Boy Scouts of America (working on inclusivity), among others.