Dr. Raúl Munguía is Director of Orchestras and Professor of Violin and Viola at Pittsburg State University. Now in its 8th season, he is the Music Director and Conductor of the Southeast Kansas Symphony and the Crawford County Philharmonic, both regional ensembles based in Pittsburg, Kansas.
At PSU, Munguía leads the graduate programs in
Orchestral Conducting and the Violin/Viola undergraduate and master levels in performance.
He is the Principal Guest Conductor of the San Pedro Sula Symphony Orchestra in
his native country of Honduras and has appeared with the Honduran Philharmonic,
the San Vicente Music Festival in Chile, the Victoriano López Conservatory
Symphony, Chamber Orchestra, the San Pedro Sula Chamber Orchestra, the JOCA in
EL Salvador, the Drury-Springfield Civic Orchestra, the
Natchitoches-Northwestern Symphony, among others. Some of the 2019-20 season
highlights include a Gala Performance with the SEK Symphony in the Kauffman
Center, Century II Hall at KMEA, guest conducting the San Vicente Music
Festival in Chile, and guest conducting the Dundee Symphony Orchestra in
Dundee, Scotland.
As a strong advocate of music education, Dr.
Munguía has conducted several District and Honor orchestras in Missouri, Texas,
Mississippi, Kansas, Louisiana, and Honduras. A passionate proponent for the chamber music genre, he launched his
chamber ensemble Duo Capriccioso In the summer of 2019. He also founded the
Pittsburg Chamber Music Festival held every summer in the city of Pittsburg,
Kansas. Now on its seventh edition, the festival brings together renowned
national and regional artists to the SEK.
Dr. Munguía is also a versatile musician
combining his work in orchestral conducting with an active career as an
orchestral musician and a chamber player. As a violinist, he has appeared with
the Symphony Orchestra of Paraguay, the University of Asunción Festival
Orchestra, and the San Pedro Sula Camerata, among others. He has also held the
concertmaster chair position with The San Pedro Sula Chamber Orchestra, The
Honduran Symphony Orchestra, and The Natchitoches-Northwestern Symphony
Orchestra. He has also collaborated with orchestras such as The Lubbock
Symphony Orchestra, and the Santa Fe Pro Musica Chamber Orchestra in Santa Fe,
NM, Mississippi Symphony, The Mobile Symphony, and The Midland-Odessa Symphony
performing on both period and standard violin. He is a current member of the
Symphony Orchestra of Northwest Arkansas, the Fort Smith Symphony and the
Springfield Symphony in Missouri.
Munguia holds a Doctoral in Musical Arts degree
in Orchestral Conducting from Texas Tech University where he studied with Dr.
Andrew George and Dr. Bruce Wood; A Masters in Orchestral Conducting and Violin
Performance from Northwestern State University of Louisiana studying violin
with Dr. Andrej Kurti, and orchestral conducting with Dr. Douglas Bakenhus. He
also holds a Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance from The University of Southern
Mississippi under the supervision of Dr. Stephen Redfield working on both
standard and period violin.