Mandolin
Maestro Diego Corriente is one of the great musicians of the 21st century. World traveller & performer he is a noted scholar, licensed educator, lecturer & former restauranteur (he holds a college degree for each category) as well.
In addition to being a flamenco guitar maestro for 58 years, Maestro Diego Corriente is also a proponent of the duo-style mandolin playing where one player performs multiple parts at once, sounding like two or more separate instruments.
This style which became quite prevalent at the turn of the 20th-Century in America and parts of Europe, requires the player go back & forth between the melody, counter-melody and harmony so quickly that it sounds as if two instruments are really playing.
His repertoire runs from the great classics of The Golden Age to popular Italian and American favorites, all performed in the classic Duo-Style. Continued below ....
Maestro Diego Corriente began his career in 1960 first as a guitarist due to a tremendous love for his native flamenco music. By the time of his arrival in New York City he had already become acquainted with the bandurria or "spanish mandolin". It would not be long before he would develop a similar interest in an instrument much appreciated by the many Italian communities throughout the eastern seaboard, "il mandolino" or the mandolin.
By the 1970s he had already fallen under the spell of flamenco guitarist Carlos Montoya with whom he met on several occasions. The result was that within a short time he would become a student of great flamenco guitarists René Heredia, Mario Escudero & many others. The next 34 yrs. would find him touring as both a flamenco accompanist & soloist and finally as a concert musician aboard the ill-fated cruise ship Prinsendam I. The many places he would visit would allow him the time to investigate the many plectrum type string instruments not well known in the United States.
Eventually his travels would take him in 1985 to sunny California, not only to perform & teach guitar but to further his study of the mandolin w/ acclaimed artists like Radim Zenkel, Ron Jackson, Phil Boroff & eventually the great soloist Evan Marshall. His time is now split between performing & teaching on both instruments, conducting, & teaching children in selected schools as well.