Acclaimed for his “dazzling virtuosity” and “inventive playing”, Spanish clarinettist Daniel Broncano is rapidly emerging as an exciting young soloist and recitalist. He has recently been the recipient of numerous awards and prizes: Making Music Award for Young Concert Artists (2011), RCM Clarinet Prize 2012, the Madrid Youth Orchestra Soloists´Competition, the Clarinet and Saxophone Society Competition (2010), the Trinity Soloists´Competition (2010), the Wilfred Hambleton Chamber Music Award (2010) and the Albox Chamber Music Contest (2005, Spain) amongst others.
Daniel´s recent performances as a soloist include concertos by Stanford, Nielsen, Weber and Mozart. He has also recorded the Copland Clarinet Concerto for BBC3 and has appeared as a soloist at the Aberystwyth Music Festival 2011 with the Orion Symphony Orchestra performing Spohr´s 4th Clarinet Concerto. As a passionate contemporary music performer he has given the world première of Jekyll´s Confession for solo clarinet by Jesús Aranda and Simone Spagnolo´s opera It makes no difference for singers, clarinet and ensemble. Other solo engagements included a recital in Moscow Conservatoire (representing RCM) and Weber´s 2nd Clarinet Concerto.
His wide recital experience has been shaped together with the German pianist Johannes Mnich. The Broncano/Mnich Duo (supported by Concordia Foundation) has performed extensively in the UK, Spain and Germany in major venues such as Bridgewater Hall in Manchester, St Martin in the Fields and St James´s Piccadilly in London, Leeds Chamber Series and Teatros del Canal in Madrid.
Daniel was born in Madrid in 1986 and studied there with Justo Sanz and in Paris with Nicolas Baldeyrou. He has recently finished a Masters´Course at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance studying clarinet with Joan Enric Lluna and Michael Whight, thanks to a Leverhulme Mentorship Scholarship and a Spanish Performers Association Scholarship. He has currently attained an Artist Diploma at the Royal College of Music thanks to a full Ibercaja/Mackerras Scholarship. He has appeared with leading ensembles such as Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Chroma Ensemble, Orquesta de la Comunidad de Madrid and Sound Collective.
What or who inspired you to become a professional musician?
An old recording of Heinz Holliger, a Swiss oboist, that my father had around and I loved to listen to. Such is life, I wanted to be an oboist! Then they brought me to a concert by the Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia and I was speechless for a few days; I was very impressed with the wash of sound.
What is your most amusing musical moment?
I was turning pages for a friend in an oboe and piano recital. Half way through the last piece, I suddenly realised there weren’t any more pages on the piano stand and the piece was far from finished. I had to back up to the green room discreetly, search the pianist’s bag, find the rest of the music and appear back on stage, silent but triumphant, and stick these pages on the piano just on time for them to carry on!