Santa Cruz de Tenerife, 1986. He started his music studies at the age of 8, at the “Professional Conservatory” of Tenerife, He later joined the “Reina Sofia College of Music” in Madrid under the tutoring of Professor Hansjörg Schellenberger and Víctor Anchel, being awarded as best student in 2009.

In the same year, Germán Díaz moved to Munich after joining the academy of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, where he had lessons with Stefan Schilli and Ramon Ortega; and he played under the baton of conductors such as David Zinman, Mariss Jansons, Bernard Haitink, Sir Colin David and Andris Nelsons on tours in Europe and Asia.

Díaz Blanco has collaborated as principal oboist with many orchestras such as: Seoul Philharmonic, Musikcollegium Winterthur, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Bach Collegium München, Camerata Salzburg, and Symphony Orchestra of Tenerife (where he was invited to perform as soloist the oboe concerto from B. A. Zimmerman).

As a chamber music player, he is regularly invited to perform with Plural Ensemble (Madrid) and Quantum Ensemble (Tenerife). He won several prizes in international oboe competitions as well, including Third Prize in the International Oboe Competition “Giuseppe Tomassini” in Petritoli (Italy, 2010), and Special Prize of the Jury in the International Oboe Competition “Gheorghe Dima”.

Has been invited to teach and perform in numerous festivals and universities such as “Nonaka Actus” (Tokyo, 2010), “Suwon University” (South Korea), “OFF Festival” (Slovenia, 2012) “Festival Piero Bellugi” y “Campus Musicale Lunigiana” (Italy, 2014); “Conservatorio Superior de Música de Canarias” and “Festival de Música Orotava” (Spain, since 2016).

Since 2014, Diaz Blanco is the principal oboe of the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra, invited to perform Strauss oboe concerto in October 2017.

Claire was born in London, UK and moved to Cape Town, SA at the age of 5. At 6, she began piano lessons and later started oboe lessons aged 10, at the ‘Beau Soleil’ music centre with Sharon Fligner-Lindquist. She was a prize-winner in national music competitions such as the ATKV (woodwind prize) and Hugenot competition (1st prize).

In 1998, Claire moved back to London and continued her studies at the Royal College of Music where she was awarded a full international scholarship from the ABRSM to study oboe with John Anderson and piano with Neil Immelman and John Byrne. Claire was also a recipient of the Ernest Oppenheimer Musical Trust award.

In her first year at the RCM, Claire was awarded the ‘Manilow’ prize. In her second year, she completed an ‘Erasmus’ exchange in Oslo studying under Erik Niord Larsen. Upon graduating at the RCM in 2002 with a B Mus (Hons), Claire decided to continue postgraduate studies in Munich, Germany with Francois Leleux at the ‘Richard Strauss Konservatorium’ and later at the ‘Hochschule fuer Musik und Theater’. She was awarded her ‘Meisterklasse’ diploma in 2006.

In Germany, Claire gained orchestral experience by working with orchestras such as the NDR Radiophilharmonie, Bochumer Symphony, Gaertnerplatz orchestra, BR Symphony orchestra, Munich Symphony, Camerata Salzburg, and Munich chamber orchestra.

From 2005-2006, she completed a ‘Praktikum’ with the BR radio orchestra. In 2006, Claire began in the ‘Mozarteum’ orchestra in Salzburg as 2nd oboe/English horn and switched to the same position in 2008 as a founding member of the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra where she has been based ever since.