About Me
Artist Bio:
Born in Sylmar, Ca, December 29 1989, The San Fernando Valley Area, Los Angeles into a Family of immigrants from central and south america. He was always around all kinds of music in especially, world music and improvisation based. At age 12, Started to be involved in music as a career for the future and ever since then he has strived to be the best in what he does, play the flute in all aspects of music and be in the overall process as a musician; perform, compose, arrange, educate, produce, among other skills. He took the challenge of taking up flute and be able to revolutionize it overall. He started music as a classically trained musician and then expanded after that to different realms of music. Being immensely and widely diverse, His focus ever since starting jazz and improvisation has been to make the flute more widely respected and known. His main focus as an artist is to be a complete musician no matter what style or genre he may be set upon. He has been a part of several ensembles since starting his musical career being in Concert Bands, Honors Ensembles, Marching Bands, Chamber Ensembles, Wind Symphonies, Symphony Orchestras, Jazz Bands, Jazz Combos, Choirs, Contemporary/Fusion Bands, Church Ensembles, Latin and World Music Ensembles; Mariachi Bands, Folklore Ensembles, Salsa Bands, Latin Jazz Ensembles, Norteño/Banda Ensembles, Ensembles of all sizes as well as solo unaccompanied. He has a great love and passion for music so he plays it all in every context which is always a challenge and learning process. The basis of his experience, is to never stop learning and developing as an Artist, in which progressing and finding a way to go to deeper levels is fundamental in context and through his artcraft; Music.
He has performed and has had musical instruction with World Renowned Artists of all genres/styles.
Artists Taught by:
Artists Rafael has either Performed, Recorded, and or Collaborated with, (Grammy Award Winners, International and Industry professionals):
Born in Sylmar, Ca, December 29 1989, The San Fernando Valley Area, Los Angeles into a Family of immigrants from central and south america. He was always around all kinds of music in especially, world music and improvisation based. At age 12, Started to be involved in music as a career for the future and ever since then he has strived to be the best in what he does, play the flute in all aspects of music and be in the overall process as a musician; perform, compose, arrange, educate, produce, among other skills. He took the challenge of taking up flute and be able to revolutionize it overall. He started music as a classically trained musician and then expanded after that to different realms of music. Being immensely and widely diverse, His focus ever since starting jazz and improvisation has been to make the flute more widely respected and known. His main focus as an artist is to be a complete musician no matter what style or genre he may be set upon. He has been a part of several ensembles since starting his musical career being in Concert Bands, Honors Ensembles, Marching Bands, Chamber Ensembles, Wind Symphonies, Symphony Orchestras, Jazz Bands, Jazz Combos, Choirs, Contemporary/Fusion Bands, Church Ensembles, Latin and World Music Ensembles; Mariachi Bands, Folklore Ensembles, Salsa Bands, Latin Jazz Ensembles, Norteño/Banda Ensembles, Ensembles of all sizes as well as solo unaccompanied. He has a great love and passion for music so he plays it all in every context which is always a challenge and learning process. The basis of his experience, is to never stop learning and developing as an Artist, in which progressing and finding a way to go to deeper levels is fundamental in context and through his artcraft; Music.
He has performed and has had musical instruction with World Renowned Artists of all genres/styles.
Artists Taught by:
- Catherine Barron (Flute)
- Matthew Krejci (Flute), Principal Flutist of Sacramento Philharmonic Orchestra, and Chamber Music Society of Sacramento
- Caryl Mae Scott (Flute), Former Principal Flutist of Stockton Symphony, Studied under Julius Baker, and Jean Pierre Rampal (Legendary Flutists)
- Paul Novros (Jazz + Improvisation, Composition)
- Art Holton (Music Education, Conducting, Woodwind Specialization)
- Phil O’Connor (Pedagogy, Mentorship, Performance)
- Larry Koonse (Jazz Improvisation)
- David Roitstein (Mentorship)
- Steve Lehman (Performance, Composition)
- Aashish Khan (North Indian Classical Music, Bansuri, Improvisation, Composition, Performance)
- Eyvind Kang (Musicology, Composition, Performance and Pedagogy)
- Andrew Grueschow (African Music and Dance, Pedagogy, Performance)
- Art Lande (Mentorship, Improvisation, Pedagogy)
- Brian Kendrick (Jazz Band and Combo Director, Mentorship)
- Aaron Garner (Music Theory, Jazz Theory and Improvisation)
- MJ Wamhoff (College Dean)
- David Rosenboom (CalArts Dean)
Artists Rafael has either Performed, Recorded, and or Collaborated with, (Grammy Award Winners, International and Industry professionals):
- Paul Novros
- Brian Schlegel
- Art Holton
- Phil O’Connor
- Mike Vax
- Bob McChesney
- Scott Colley
- Kenny Werner
- Antonio Sanchez
- Sal Lozano
- David Sanchez
- Eric Marienthal
- Andy Martin
- Rick Shaw
- Gordon Goodwin
- Gilbert Castellanos
- Bob Mintzer
- Charles McNeal
- Mic Gillette
- Wynton Marsalis
- Sulley Imoro
- Victor Nani Agbeli
- David Roitstein
- Larry Koonse
- Joe LaBarbera
- Houman Pourmehdi
- Michael Pisaro
- Darek Oles
- Andrew McIntosh
- Steve Lehman
- Ulrich Krieger
- Aashish Khan
- Eyvind Kang
- Alphonso Johnson
- David Johnson
- Andrew Grueschow
- Vinny Golia
- Randy Gloss
- John Fumo
- Swapan Chaudhuri
- Pirayeh Pourafar
- Chad Lefkowitz-Brown
- Zach Brown
- Javier Santiago
- Lucas Pino
- Brian Chahley
- Colin Stranahan
- Jonathan Kreisberg
- Kudsi Erguner
- Art Lande
- Bobby Bradford
- Edwin Livingston
- Michael Skloff
- John Baffa
- Matthew Baer
- Mark Ferber
- Heitor Pereira
- Chris Garcia
Online Resume/CV (updated 2021) - https://www.linkedin.com/in/rafaellunamusic/
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| rafael_luna_-_diversity_statement.pdf |
| teaching_philosophy_-_rafael_luna.pdf |
| list_of_professional_references_-_rafael_luna.pdf |