Daniel Rojas
Daniel Omar Rojas (b. 1974) was born in Chile and migrated to Australia at the age of six. Rojas has cultivated an interest in the Indigenous, folk and popular music of Latin America, particularly of Peru and the Caribbean.
Rojas holds a Bachelor of Music Composition (1st Class Hons and Medal) and a Master of Music from the University of Sydney. He is completing a PhD in Composition at the Sydney Conservatorium and has held a number of scholarships throughout his postgraduate studies. His composition mentors have included Ross Edwards, Anne Boyd, Matthew Hindson, Richard Meale and Edward Primrose.
Rojas has won several first prizes including the Fellowship of Australian Composers Award, Frank Albert Prize, the Miriam Hyde Memorial Award, and the Keys National Piano Composition Competition with Danza de Montañas. He has been a participant in the MSO 21st Centruy Young Composers Programme as well as many other workshops.
Rojas has received commissions for the MSO, SYO, SSO Fellows, Kammer Ensemble, and the Prima Musica Philharmonic Orchestra of Gent, Belgium. His most recent works include a symphonic choral text setting of Christopher Smart's Jubilate Agno premiered at the Sydney Town Hall to celebrate the sesquicentenary anniversary of Sydney Grammar School (where he was composer in residence in 2007); and an orchestral suite Enchanted songs and Dances in four movements for the West Australian Youth Orchestra commissioned by ArsMusica Australis that draws inspiration from various Peruvian musical traditions. Work in progress includes a second piano concerto for Konstantin Shamrai, winner of the 2008 Sydney International Piano Competition and the SYO commissioned by ArsMusica Australis.
Rojas teaches in the Arts Music Unit of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and is the Musician in Residence for the Queensland Music Festival.
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