Juan Mathías de Los Reyes

Juan Mathías de Los Reyes was a New Spain composer active in Oaxaca during the second half of the eighteenth century. He received his initial training at the cathedral of Guatemala, today Antigua, in the mid-eighteenth century. Around 1750 he joined the cathedral of Oaxaca as harpist and singer, where he received private lessons in composition from Manuel de Zumaya, the institution's chapel master, and came to collaborate with him on a religious work.

After Zumaya's death in 1755, Los Reyes served as acting chapel master from 1756, a post he held steadily until his death, though with two interruptions: between 1765 and 1768 the post was held by Francisco Martínez de la Costa, and in 1770 Juan Verón was appointed to it without ever taking it up. In 1763 he was also named second organist. According to the documents, in 1770 he acquired a pair of horns from the cathedral of Puebla.

His legacy consists chiefly of religious music preserved in the cathedral of Oaxaca. It should be noted that he is often confused with a namesake of Zapotec origin, also called Juan Mathías, who lived in Oaxaca a century earlier.