Photo by Sociedad Filarmónica de Lima
Dr. Daniel Cueto is an established composer and flutist whose overarching artistic mission is to bring the diverse, deeply rooted sounds of Peru to the global concert stage. His music is colored by a profound connection to his homeland, evoking the ancestral melodic gestures of the Andes, the lively rhythms of the Peruvian coast, and the expansive harmonic possibilities of 21st-century concert music. His works have been performed in concert over 300 times across 30 US states and more than 20 countries worldwide.
Classically trained in Germany and the United States, his compositions blend a full command of Western Classical techniques with a deeply expressive voice that is unmistakably Peruvian in flavor. He has written over 40 works of solo, chamber, vocal and orchestral music, commissioned by such institutions as Deutschlandradio, the Robert-Schumann-Hochschule, Azusa Pacific University, the International Double Reed Society and the Sociedad Filarmónica de Lima. Frequently taking the stage to perform his own works, he has appeared as a soloist with multiple Peruvian orchestras and presented his music at prestigious North American conferences such as the National Flute Association Convention (2026), the Mid-Atlantic Flute Convention (2026), the Great Lakes Flute Festival (2025) and the Chicago Flute Fest (2025).
Daniel Cueto’s first musical mentors were Lilia Romero and Gabriel Bustamante, from whom he learned to perform the Peruvian cajón and to appreciate and discern the musical styles of the Peruvian coast. César Peredo, his first flute teacher, initiated him in the rigorous woodwind tradition of the German school while also encouraging him to try his hand at composition using Andean musical elements. At age 19, he emigrated to Germany to study with flutists Michael Faust and André Sebald at the Robert-Schumann-Hochschule in Düsseldorf, where he refined his skills as a flute soloist and orchestral musician. He then studied with composers Friedrich Jaecker and Johannes Schild at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln, receiving thorough instruction in Renaissance counterpoint, Baroque fugue, Classical sonata, and various compositional techniques of nineteenth and twentieth century music. Finally, he relocated to the United States to complete his studies at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, earning a Doctorate in Music Composition under the guidance of Claude Baker, Don Freund and Aaron Travers.
Photo by Marcos Angeloni
A committed and passionate educator with nine years of university teaching experience, Daniel Cueto has taught at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln, the Hochschule für Musik Detmold (Germany), the Pontificia Universidad Católica (Peru), and currently serves as Adjunct Professor at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music (Bloomington, IN). He cultivates a hands-on teaching style that integrates practical music-making, cross-cultural repertoire, and collaborative projects — encouraging students to find their own artistic voice, to develop and perform their own compositions, and to engage with music from living composers and traditions from around the globe.