Draft:Julián Pontón

Julián Pontón (*15. September 1961, Tulcán, Ecuador) is an Ecuadorian flutist, composer and music professor. Throughout his career he has published numerous works of his own and works in collaboration with important artists of the country. He has dedicated himself to ethnological and musical research and has published books on this subject. He has participated in and organized several international music festivals in Ecuador and abroad. Between 2017 and 2022 he was the director of the Music career at the Universidad Central del Ecuador, a career that was created and conceptualized by himself together with a group of experts.

Musical and professional career

Between 1989 and 2003 he was a member of the National Symphony Orchestra as its flutist. In 2008 he was the deputy director in charge of the at the National Conservatory of Music of Quito and between 2000 and 2012 he was director of the DIC (Departamento de Investigación, Creación Y Difusión del Conservatorio Nacional Superior de Música del Ecuador), the department of investigation, creation and cultural promotion of the same institution.

He was part of 5 international festivals of contemporary music, a musical branch to which he dedicated much of his research. In 2016 he was hired to carry out the project for the creation of the Musical Arts Career of the Faculty of Arts of the Central University of Ecuador, a project that culminated with the approval of the Career by the local authorities of CES and SENESCYT in October 2017. Between 2017-2022 he was founding director of the Musical Arts Career of the Faculty of Arts of the Central University and professor of flute, choir and electroacoustic composition at the same institution.

In 1995 he was invited to participate in the VII Festival of Contemporary Music in Havana Cuba performing with pianist Teresa Junco at the Casa de las Americas.

Investigations and festivals

In 2008 and 2009 he conducted a field research for two years in the community of Kotama-Otavalo, which was sponsored by the Ministry of Culture. In this context a school of traditional flutes was created in the community and the book "YAKU MAMA La Crianza del Agua y la Música ritual del Hatun-Puncha Inti-Raymi" and CD of their music was published. In 2022 he published the book "Sistemas de Pensamiento Musical Nativo del Ecuador - culturas afro-esmeraldeña, andina y amazónica" a research on the diversity of music in Ecuador.

Significant works

• 1997: Siglos. For metal flute, 4 reed flutes, horn and Afro-Ecuadorian percussion. In 2002 Pontón won the TRIMALCA 2002 prize in Havana Cuba with this work.
• 2001: Release of the album 'Mundos' with pianist Hugo Gianini.
• 2002: Recording of his work Oda al instante on CD of Latin American composers sponsored by UNESCO in Costa Rica.
• 2010: Recording of his work 'El Alto de la Paz' in the CD of Ecuadorian composers REDCE in Morelia, Mexico.