José Manuel is a violist from Bailén (Spain). Born in 1996, he started playing the viola since his childhood in the south of Spain. Throughout his career he had the opportunity to explor and perform repertoire of different styles, from early music to contemporary.

He began his musical studies at the age of eight at the "Conservatorio Elemental de Música Reina Sofía" in Bailén (Spain). In 2009 he studied at the "Conservatorio Profesional de Música Andrés Segovia", Linares (Spain), until 2016. From a young age he was recognised by the schools where he studied as a promising musician.

Then he continued and finished his bachelor studies at the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Aragón (Zaragoza, Spain) in the specialty of viola interpretation. During the third year of his studies, he had the opportunity to do Erasmus+ at Conservatorium Maastricht (Limburg, The Netherlands), conservatory where in 2021 he obtained the Bachelor diploma and in 2023 he completed the Master of Music in Viola as a pupil of Julia Dinerstein, obtaining an excellent grade in his master's degree recital.

José Manuel has received lessons from violists as Javier López Calvo, Thuan Do Minh, Alejandro Garrido, Leo de Neve, Predrag Katanic viola of the Stadler quartet, Joaquín Riquelme and Josep Puchades viola of the Cuarteto Quiroga. Concerning the ensembles and chamber music, he has received lessons from Natalia Ensemble and Nacho de Paz, a specialist in contemporary music. Also, he received chamber music lessons from Anastasia Safonova, Marc Tooten and Yuzuko Horigome during his studies in Conservatorium Maastricht and specific lessons for string quartet from Aitor Hevia and Cibrán Sierra, members of the Cuarteto Quiroga, during his bachelor's studies in Zaragoza, Spain.

José Manuel plays a Giorgio Grisales viola that he won at the “Filippo Nicosia” Chamber Music Awards in 2022 and a Giovanni Pistucci viola from 1910, thanks to the kind concession of the Fondazione Pro Canale of Milan.