A native of Colombia, Juan Esteban Martinez moved to the Dominican Republic at a young age, where he began to play the clarinet. He is a graduate of the Yale School of Music and the Peabody Conservatory of Music where he studied with Anthony McGill. While at Peabody, Juan won second prize in the Yale Gordon Concerto Competition and received the Sidney Jensen Memorial Award for outstanding clarinet performance for three consecutive years. 

In 2015, Juan was the winner of the Texas Music Festival Concerto Competition. Juan has appeared as a soloist numerous times with the National Symphony Orchestra of the Dominican Republic, performing works of Carl Nielsen, Jean Françaix and Bienvenido Bustamante. He made his debut at the age of 15 performing Rossini’s Introduction, Theme and Variations in a traditional concert that was live-streamed on national television. 

Prior to his role as Acting Second Clarinet with the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra, he was a member of The Orchestra Now, an orchestra program based in the Hudson Valley. He participated in the New York String Orchestra Seminar for two years in a row giving sold-out concerts at Carnegie Hall. He has also appeared with the Classical Tahoe Orchestra, Symphony in C in New Jersey, Princeton Symphony, Westminster Opera Theater, Yale Philharmonia, the National Repertory Orchestra, the National Orchestral Institute + Festival and the Orchestra of the Americas, among others.