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Ralph N. Jackson, President of the BMI Foundation, Inc., has announced that Daniel F. Díaz is the winner of the 4th Annual peermusic Latin Scholarship, a competition for original Latin songs and instrumental compositions. Díaz, a 23-year-old native of Mexico and a student at Berklee College of Music, received a $5,000 scholarship for his song, "Todo Lo Que Necesito." The award will be presented onstage during the upcoming BMI Latin Awards ceremony being held in Las Vegas on March 23.
Listen to the winning song, "Todo Lo Que Necesito."
The scholarship competition was established through the generosity of Ralph Peer II and the peermusic companies and is open to students between the ages of 16 and 24 attending colleges and universities in the United States and Puerto Rico. The 2007 jury included Latin Grammy President Gabriel Abaroa, peermusic's Julio Bague, EMI Music Publishing's Claribel Caraballo, Sony BMG Music Entertainment's Rene Hubard and Tu Casa Entertainment's Maribel Schumacher. Porfirio Piña, Director of the Foundation's peermusic Latin Scholarhsip and Director of Latin Music at BMI in New York, oversaw the judging process. - http://www.bmi.com/news/entry/534518
The talent pool at Berklee is deep. So deep that not every promising young international student will get to strut his or her stuff at tomorrow’s concert. Here are four talented musicians to watch.
Daniel Diaz: This Mexico City native’s strong suit is composition with a very Latin tinge. Diaz was just handed a BMI Latin Award last week in Las Vegas.
Alex Terrier: The Paris-born reedman, here on a scholarship from both the French government and Berklee, has already shared the stage with hot young jazz stars Christian Scott and Esperanza Spalding.
Lucas Vidal: A composition and film scoring major from Madrid, Spain, Lucas saw one of his original scores recorded live at Symphony Hall earlier this month.
Eleanora Bianchinni: The Perugia, Italy, native impressed Berklee folk during the Umbria Jazz Festival in 2002, and her vocal prowess has landed her shows this spring at Ryles and festival gigs with Bill Pierce and Eguie Castrillo.
By Bob Young
- Boston Herald (Wednesday, March 28, 2007)
Discography
Daniel Diaz is currently recording his first EP in New York with producer Jeffry Fischman.
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Bio
Daniel F. Díaz is a 23-year-old Mexican-American singer/songwriter and pianist. Raised in Mexico City, he was born into a traditionally artistic family composed of actors, musicians, writers and painters. Often his playground would be the backstage of a theater where his uncle Javier Diaz Dueñas would be performing a musical comedy. He can vividly remember himself begging the stage manager to allow him to appear on stage during some of the presentations of the well-known musical, “CATS.”
On his 8th birthday, he asked his parents for a piano as a birthday gift, and before he knew it he was taking private piano lessons with El maestro Jose Ordoñez, a respected juror from Mexico’s National Music Conservatory (Conservatorio Nacional de Musica). Three years later, Daniel decided to continue his piano studies with the young concert pianist Miguel Angel Rodriguez, who introduced him to an array of different music styles such as blues, jazz and pop.
At the age of 15, his interest in harmony and songwriting led him to take his first vocal lessons. At this point he realized we wanted to pursue a professional career in music and devoted his efforts to develop the necessary skills to be accepted in the prestigious Berklee College of Music. Parallel to this learning experience, Daniel acquired entrepreneurial knowledge by shadowing his father every time he could in the organization of corporate special events. He participated in the organization and logistics of musical performances of very well known Latin American artists such as Mana, Juan Gabriel, Emmanuel, Armando Manzanero and Jose Jose.
Currently Daniel is a senior at Berklee, majoring in Music Business Management and serves as the President of the Latin American Club. His three years at Berklee have provided him with an opportunity to learn and enhance his songwriting, performance and music entrepreneurial skills. He has taken vocal lesson with Jeff Ramsey and Mark Baxter, as well as piano lesson with Dave Limina, among many others. On March 23, 2007 Diaz was awarded with the 4th Annual BMI Foundation Inc./Peermusic Latin Scholarship for his stellar song "Todo Lo Que Necesito".
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