KEN YCHICAWA

ABOUT KEN

Drummer, composer and educator Ken Ychicawa is one of the leading figures in the young jazz music scene in his native Lima, Peru. He has performed across the Americas and Europe as a sideman and as a leader, and collaborated with artists such as Adam Rogers, Jon Cowherd, Peter Bernstein, Yotam Silberstein and the High Definition Quartet.

As a composer, Ychicawa explores avenues of classical, rock, folkloric, and modern and improvised music. He displays this nuanced and chameleonic mixture in his debut album as a leader and producer, ThruWorlds, considered a "remarkable constant discharge of emotions" by El Comercio.

​

Ken studied the violin and piano at a young age, and begun playing the drums at fifteen. He is a graduate of Berklee College of Music and New York University, where he was trained as a jazz performer and composer, under the mentorship of jazz figures like Kenny Werner, Hal Crook and Ari Hoenig. He has performed at international venues such as the Rochester Jazz Festival, Edmonton Jazz Festival, Kalisz Jazz Piano Festival, Ecuador Jazz Festival, Estereo Picnic Festival, Gran Teatro Nacional and Teatro Peruano Japonés in Peru, The Gardner Museum in Boston, the Zinc Bar and Rockwood Music Hall in New York City, among many others.

​

A busy session drummer in Lima, Ken works regularly with jazz musicians like Ania Paz, Andrew Baker, Fusa Miranda, while leading his own projects and touring with artists like indie-folk duo Alejandro y Maria Laura. He has worked as artist in residency at music programs in schools and universities in the US and Latin America. Currently, he teaches percussion and composition as a faculty member at PUCP and UPC Universities. In addition to this, he is the founder and director of Peru Jazz Camp, the first educational camp in Peru that is focused in jazz and improvisational music.

​

​