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The Spanish guitarist, Diego Blanco, was born in Palma de Majorka. His father comes from the north of Spain, his mother from Andalucia and it is from her that he has inherited his musicality. His maternal grandparents both sang and danced flamenco. Earlier generations contain a number of prominent guitarists. Diego stated playing when he was eight. At nine he came into contact with Dan Grenholm, a Swedish guitarist and former pupil of Pujol and Andrés Segovia. Grenholm quickly saw the boy's great possibilities and decided to take care of his future training. While studying to play the guitar he was taught piano and the theory and history of music by the Spanish composer and pianist Lorenzo Galmes. Diego began studying languages and literature, and practised on the guitar four to five hours every day. Later on he made several trips of study to Paris and London, where he studied the guitar with John Williams.
Diego Blanco gave his first concerts, eleven years old, in his hometown, with some of his own compositions on the programme. The official debut concert took place at the Concert Hall in Stockholm in 1968, where he enjoyed an enormous success. There followed television appearances and a concert tour all over Sweden. This resulted in a contract with a recording company in 1969. The career had started in earnest. In the liner notes to his first album it was written: "Diego Blanco has already been compared with the great masters of the guitar but this has in no way turned his head. With lots of good looks, stage personality and the complete mastery of his instrument he is, at nineteen, a genuine musician who spellbounds audiences of all age groups."
Since then Diego Blanco has given concerts in the Nordic countries, in Spain, Italy, England, Eastern Europe and in the Soviet Union. He has appeared in radio and television programmes in these countries and has made numerous gramophone records. Among the many composers who have dedicated works to Diego Blanco are numbered von Koch, Karkoff, Rautavaara, Santórsola, and Sæverund.
His greatest success so far (1983) came in 1979 as he won first prize in one of the world's most important international guitar competitions: Queen Sofía's Competition in Madrid. |
