The instrumentalist was a professor of Chamber Music and Violin at the Professional Conservatory of Murcia and a member of different groups. One of his most remembered concerts was in 2020 on the tomb of the Cid in the VIII Centenary of the Cathedral of Burgos
The Murcian violinist Manuel de Juan Ayala, one of the founding members of the prestigious Almus Quartet, died this Sunday in Murcia at the age of 52 after a lifetime dedicated entirely to classical music. His funeral is scheduled to be held this Monday, at 12 noon, at the Salzillo mortuary in Murcia (together with Ciudad de la Justicia). De Juan was the son of the music critic of LA VERDAD, Octavio de Juan, president of the Murcia Pro Music Association, and brother of Octavio de Juan Ayala, also a member of Almus, one of the leading chamber groups in Spain. The death of Manuel de Juan has shocked the teachers and students of the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Murcia Massotti Little, of which he was one of the most esteemed teachers in the Department of Chamber Music and Large Groups since the 2002/2003 academic year.
Precisely in this same institution in Murcia he studied violin and was a student of Pedro Castaño and J. Palomares, among others, although his training was influenced by E. Tamazova, M. Marseglia, Ch. Polyzoides, Y. Gitlis, Z. Chikhmoursaeva and V. Pikaizen. He also had regular meetings with L. Stanese (Vía Nova Quartet in Paris) and B. Novotný (Prague Quartet), as recorded in his professional record at the Conservatory.
Manuel de Juan Ayala was a Senior Professor of Violin and Chamber Music, graduated in Advanced Studies (DEA) and PhD in Music from the Autonomous University of Madrid, being tutored by Yvan Nommick. He was a soloist in the Murcia Region Chamber Orchestra and with the Murcia Region Symphony Orchestra, and worked with the ‘Virtuosos de Moscow’ Chamber Orchestra and the Belarusian RTV State Orchestra.
He was the son of the music critic of LA VERDAD Octavio de Juan, president of Pro Música, and brother of Octavio de Juan Ayala, also a member of Almus, one of the leading chamber quartets in Spain.
With the Almus String Quartet he recorded three CDs [uno de ellos, de gran éxito, ‘El humor en la música de cámara’, grabado con el sello RTVE] and a DVD, and he performed in the main stages and cycles, as well as in emblematic places such as the Royal Palace, the cloister of the Silos Monastery or the Church of Nuestro Padre de Jesús de Murcia, in front of the ‘salzillos’.
31 years of concerts with Almus
In September 2020, as reported by this newspaper, the Murcian rope formation reappeared after the first waves of the Covid pandemic in the acts of the VIII Centenary of the Burgos Cathedral with a memorable recital on the tomb of the Cid, Rodrigo Díaz of Vivar. In addition to Manuel de Juan (violin) and Octavio de Juan (viola), the Alicante-born Francisco Pastor (cello) and Vicente Antón (violin) completed the Almus Quartet, which was always characterized by giving a didactic tone to their concerts, as highlighted by the critic Javier Artaza, and that in 2020 he intended to celebrate his thirtieth anniversary (1990-2020); the pandemic and the sudden illness of Manuel de Juan left these aims in the air.
The violinist was also a member of the Nissen Trio and the contemporary music group Concertus Novo, and performed in duets on several occasions with Cristina Esclapéz, with whom he premiered Javier Artaza’s Rhapsody for violin and piano, and also with Miguel Ángel Rodríguez (piano ), the guitarist Diego Corraliza and the accordionist Jesús Mozo.
THE TRUTH joins the samples of condolences expressed in the last hours by family, friends and colleagues.
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