Rafael Puyana

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Rafael Puyana Michelsen (born 14 October, 1931 in Bogotà) is a Colombian harpsichordist.

Puyana began piano lessons at age 6 with his aunt and at age 13 made his debut at the Teatro Colón in Bogotà. At age 16 he went to Boston to continue his piano studies at the New England Conservatory. He subsequently went to the United States to study harpsichord with Wanda Landowska and then to Paris to study composition with Nadia Boulanger.

Puyana made his début in New York in 1957 and in London in 1966. He has performed with the likes of Yehudi Menuhin, Leopold Stokowski, and Andrés Segovia. Composers of the stature of Federico Mompou and Xavier Montsalvatge have dedicated compositions to him.

Aside from concerts, Puyana has taught harpsichord. Christopher Hogwood and Elizabeth de la Porte were amongst his students. Puyana has also has collected original instruments, including the 1740 3-manual harpsichord by H.A. Hass.

[edit] Sources

• The Grove Concise Dictionary of Music, published by Oxford University Press, 1994.