Luis Fletes

Luis Fletes is a Nicaraguan-American composer, pianist, and educator based in Las Vegas, Nevada. Born in León, Nicaragua, he moved at an early age to Costa Rica, a country that would become an important part of his personal and musical identity.

Fletes studied at the University of Costa Rica, where he earned his degree in Music with an emphasis in Composition in 1996. He later taught at the university level, including courses in harmony, orchestration, composition, and music technology.

For seven years, Fletes worked internationally as a jazz pianist aboard cruise ships, an experience that allowed him to travel extensively and contributed significantly to the development of his musical language. Although rooted in the classical tradition, his music frequently draws upon the harmonic vocabulary and melodic freedom of jazz, creating a distinctive fusion of classical form and jazz-influenced harmony.

His catalogue includes chamber music, vocal works, sacred music, and music for the theater. His compositions have been performed in the United States and throughout Europe and Latin America, including Portugal, Spain, Italy, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Peru. Costa Rica, where his development as a composer began, continues to hold a particularly important place in his musical identity.

Fletes has lived in Las Vegas for more than twenty years, where he continues to compose and teach music and languages. His current projects include Gothic Requiem, a contemporary sacred work blending elements of the Requiem tradition with Gregorian-inspired writing and a modern harmonic language, and A Las Vegas Nocturne, a new work for the musical stage.