Rafael Leonardo Junchaya


Rafael Leonardo Junchaya Rojas is a Peruvian composer, conductor, and researcher.

Biography

Junchaya was born in Lima, the son of physician/composer Rafael Junchaya Gómez.
He began his musical education at the age of seven, learning piano. Two years later he enrolled in the Conservatorio Nacional de Música to study violin but did not finish. At the end of his secondary education, he entered the Faculty of Architecture at the National University of Engineering, but returned to the Conservatory in 1988 to major in composition. Studying under such professors as Enrique Iturriaga and Celso Garrido Lecca, Junchaya graduated in 2005 with a second specialty in composition teaching.
Junchaya has participated in master classes and workshops with Mario Lavista, Aurelio Tello and Cirilo Vila, among others. He studied conducting with Miguel Harth-Bedoya and Eduardo García-Barrios, and also participated in workshops with David MacKenzie and Carlos Fernández Aransay between 2002 and 2003. In 1995 he travelled to New York City as a visiting student at Juilliard School.
He has been the assistant conductor, then principal conductor, of the Symphony Orchestra of the Conservatorio Nacional de Música of Lima, and has led the Philharmonic Orchestra of Lima, the POV, and "La Filarmónica" orchestras. He has also attended workshops and seminars in musical research with Alfonso Padilla from the University of Helsinki, where he obtained his Ph.D. in musicology with a thesis on music composition teaching.
Junchaya has been professor of Composition and Music History at the CNM and the Instituto de Arte of the Universidad San Martín de Porres. He is a founding member of Círculo de Composición del Perú.

Works

Chamber music

Vocal music

  • Picaflor Esmeralda for a cappella mixed choir
  • Lied so pre-texto Eguren for voice and piano
  • Estancias for soprano and string orchestra
  • Soneto XCIV for mixed choir
  • Estancias II Op.3 for soprano and string quartet
  • Estancias II Op.3a for soprano and piano
  • Cuatro motetes cuasi profanos Op.6, for a cappella mixed choir
  • Magnificat Op.8, for two sopranos, flute, oboe, and French horn and
  • María Fernanda se rebela en el salón de los espejos, operatic scene for soprano and three cellos. Text by Maritza Núñez
  • Poemas mínimos Op.21, for mezzosoprano and guitar, texts by Ryōkan

Orchestral music

  • Momentos for chamber orchestra
  • Dos Estudios for large orchestra
  • Movimiento sinfónico Op.2
  • Esquisse, Op.5
  • Sincronismos II Op.10, for chamber orchestra
  • Varidanzas Op.12 first prize for Composition for the 60th anniversary of the Conservatorio
  • Concertino Silvestre Op.14, for bass clarinet, percussion, and string orchestra
  • Concerto Silvestre Op.14a, for bass clarinet and orchestra
  • Michiqkuna Concerto for flute and string orchestra Op.16a
  • Desapegos o El encanto de Dulcinea Concerto for guitar and string orchestra Op.22
  • Distancias Concerto for violoncello and orchestra Op.24

Electronic music

Other

Writing

  • "Las llamadas de clarín en la música agrícola de Cajamarca. Análisis de dos ejemplos musicales"
  • "Lo peruano en Homenaje a Stravinsky de Enrique Iturriaga"
  • "Time and Organicity in Music Composition" Conference
  • "Teaching music composition. Creating form in time" Ph.D. dissertation
  • Various article translations

Awards

  • Komposer Kombat composition contest for Kalvos and Damian's New Music Bazaar, for Magnificat Op.8
  • Composition contest for the 60th anniversary of Conservatorio Nacional de Música and the 125th anniversary of the birth of Béla Bartók for Varidanzas Op.12
  • Peruvian scholarship trust for music