Bayani Mendoza de Leon

Bayani Mendoza de León was born in Manila on 24 November 1942 and is one of the leading figures in Filipino composition in the second half of the twentieth century. His training combined the study of philosophy and music at institutions in his homeland, supported by a scholarship from the Music Promotion Foundation of the Philippines and, later, a Fulbright-Hays fellowship that allowed him to broaden his studies between 1979 and 1981.

Even before completing his studies, he had already built up experience as a teacher, writer and cultural administrator. He presided over the Concert Philippines Society from 1966 to 1970 and was composer in residence of the Kalinangan Ensemble, linked to the Philippine Educational Theatre Association, in 1968. Between 1981 and 1984 he served as musical director of the SAMAHAN Philippine Dance Company and the PASACAT Performing Arts Company in San Diego, and he taught Asian music studies at the University of California, San Diego. He also earned a master's degree in music from the same university in 1982. Later he took on the musical direction of two rondallas, ensembles of plucked string instruments: the Paaralong Pilipino Rondalla, in 1990, and the Foundation for Filipino Artists Rondalla, in 1995.

His catalogue spans dance-drama, ballet, orchestral music, choral works and chamber music. Among his titles are the dance-drama The Golden Earth (1966), the ballet Atlantis (1978) and the zarzuela Villa Mariquita (1985), as well as symphonic poems such as Batong Buhay and Pagkamulat, and chamber pieces such as Okir o Krokis. His work frequently draws on sources and timbres from the Filipino tradition, and his work as a poet, educator and organiser establishes him as a reference figure in the musical life of the Philippines.