Biography

Richard Jesús León Quiñonez (b.2000) began his musical practice in 2012 as the pianist in the Children’s Symphony Orchestra of the Network of Symphony Orchestras and Youth Children’s Choirs of Peru led by Wilfredo Tarazona. In 2013 he studied classical piano with Carlota Bravo Guerra and learned soprano saxophone in his high school concert band. Later, he learned double bass with Karen Urtecho in 2015 and with Henry Santander in 2016.

In 2018, he began his studies on double bass performance at the National University of Music of Peru, receiving classes from Henry Santander, Ricardo Otárola, Carlos Valdez, and masterclasses from Elian Ortíz (Teatro Colón), Marcos Machado (University of Southern Mississippi), Joel Braun (Ball State University), Jani Pensola (London Symphonic Orchestra), Luis Cabrera (Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra), Giuseppe D’ Amico (Accademia Ducale), among others. Since 2019 he has led a progressive jazz-rock collective known as Fulminatriz (aka. LTA or Free Zoo) as a keyboard and bass player together with great musicians from the local jazz scene. For this project, he has transcribed several tracks from bands such as Chicago, Earth, Wind & Fire, and others. 

Nowadays, he works as a double bass player from the Bicentennial Youth Symphony Orchestra, one of the national casts of the Ministry of Culture of Peru, and is working on research about the history of double bass in Peru. He speaks Spanish, Italian, English, and a bit of Quechua and used to practice fencing and swimming.