Juan Francisco Tortosa Esteve was born in Enguera (Valencia), although he settled permanently in L’Alfàs del Pí (Alicante). He embarked on music studies in his home town under Manuel Garrigós. Subsequently, he furthered his education at the Higher Music Conservatory of Valencia where he studied piano, guitar, violin, double bass, harmony, conducting, etc. He finalised his advanced studies in Composition and Orchestration under the direction of Amando Blanquer. He pursued further studies in harmony, counterpoint, fugue, musical forms, composition and history of music under Francisco Llàcer Pla. He studied the technique of composition, orchestration and comparative artistic aesthetic under José Báguena Soler, and piano and musical teaching under Patricio Pizarro (senior professor of piano at the Musical Institute of Paris). He advanced his piano studies more under the American pianist Joshua Edelman. During a stay in Rome he received advice from the maestro Donatoni and he pursued his knowledge further still under the composer Jacques Charpentier at the Conservatoire Superieur in Paris (France). Maestro Joaquín Rodrigo, with whom he had an excellent friendship and who gave him important advice as a composer, endorsed him heartily. The encounter with Dutch composer Jef Penders, who became his teacher for many years, left a profound mark on him and opened a number of windows for him in the sphere of compositional aesthetics. Under this composer he studied harmony, musical forms, musical teaching, instrumentation and orchestration, composition and history of music from the 20th century. Maestro Manolo Sanlúcar conveyed his compositional knowledge to him by working alongside him at his chalet in Sanlúcar de Barrameda on his Mixolydian flamenco composition system. Moreover, he holds a diploma (postgraduate qualification) in Advanced Studies from the Technical University of Valencia.
His biography appears in:
The book by Eduardo López Chavarri-Andújar, Compositores valencianos del siglo XX. GENERALITAT VALENCIANA, COLECCIÓN CONTRAPUNTO, 4, 1992.
The book by Antonio García Montalbán, Tres propuestas estéticas en la obra de Juan Francisco Tortosa Esteve. Editorial Piles de Valencia, 2010.
In the form of bibliographical reviews in other books, such as 1000 músicos valencianos by Bernardo Adam Ferrero. Valencia, Sounds of Glory, 2004, among other publications, and in articles in newspapers and journals.