Get Ready for Rio: Meet Guest Musical Artist Juan Luqui

Musical Artist Juan Luqui

“I am so excited that they are actually choreographing those pieces. I love ballet, I love dance, but I’ve never had the honor of having my music choreographed. I feel so humbled and grateful for the opportunity, I’m like, I’m just going to do the best I can you know, and perform.”

Juan Luqui, BFan guest musical artist, on performing his original works with us this New Year’s Eve.

This week, new board member and local reporter extraordinaire Jacqueline Fernandez was able to sit down and talk with musician Juan Luqui over Zoom to discuss his role in our upcoming New Year’s Eve world premiere of Arrivals: Rio.

Juan Luqui is an Argentinean composer, music producer and artist. Originally from Buenos Aires, Juan now calls Los Angeles, California home. He’s toured the world playing and producing professionally for the last ten years. His work encompasses a wide variety of genres and mediums. Juan’s collaborations with Academy-Award winner Gustavo Santaolalla led him to write original music for blockbuster movies, TV shows and video games such as Finch, Narcos, Monsterland, and Playstation’s: The Last Of Us 2, among many others. Juan has performed and written orchestrations for prestigious ensembles around the world such as the LA Philharmonic, the philharmonic orchestras of Pecs (Hungary), Madrid and Malaga, and Eric Clapton’s: Crossroads Guitar Festival 2019.

Musical Artist Juan Luqui performing live on the guitar

As a producer, Juan is involved with a wide range of emerging artists from the Los Angeles and Buenos Aires scene. His own personal project, Cacique Torcido, is the ultimate playground for Juan to combine all the elements of his journey to create a highly visual and emotional sonic landscape. He says that this instrumental audio-visual project is his alter-ego and subsequently, a chance for all of us to escape to Latin America together, if only for an evening.

“That’s why we do art. We do art to have fun and connect and to bring up emotions that we didn’t even know we had. Just connect.”

Juan will be playing the Ronroco, a small Andean stringed instrument of the lute family. This ten-stringed indigenous instrument creates a hauntingly beautiful sound you will not want to miss.

“It’s very earthly and has this magical quality. I’m so excited to play it, it’s a weird instrument,” says Luqui.

Two of Juan’s original compositions will be showcased at our New Year’s Eve premiere, in his first ever live performance in the Pacific Northwest.

Check out Jacqueline’s full interview with Juan Luqui below. You will likely discover that you love Juan as much as we do!

And don’t miss seeing him perform live this New Year’s Eve at Arrivals: Rio!

Check out more about Juan and his Alter-Ego, Cacique Torcido, here!