Paco Peña

Paco Peña (Francisco Peña Perez) was born on 1 June 1942 in Cordoba, Spain. He began learning guitar at the age of six. At the age of nine he played with the school folklore instrumental and vocal group”rondalla”. It is only there that Peña received professional education from a lecturer, during the rest of the time he perfected himself. When 12 he played as an accompanist in different professional folk groups with which he toured around Spain. In 1963 he went on a tour in London with one of the folk groups. At the age of 24 he finally settled in Great Britain. He worked there as a solo guitarist. In 1967, in Wigmore Hall in London, he gave his first solo concert. On 25 September 1967 Paco Peña took part in the “Guitar-In” concert along with Jimi Hendrix, Bert Jansch, Sebastian Jorgensen and Tim Walker. The event was held at the Royal Festival Hall, London. Paco Peña gave solo recitals at Ronnie Scott Jazz Club, Carnegie Hall, Concertgebouw, Amsterdam. His art received high appraisal and recognition. In 1970 the guitarist founded the Paco Peña Flamenco Company folk group which quickly gained world renown. With the group he made performances of great success at the most famous halls in the world and at the festivals in Edinburgh, Adelaide, Amsterdam, Athens, Israel, Istanbul, Singapore, Hong Kong. In 1981 Paco Peña organised a festival of flamenco in his native town. As of 1985 Peña is the first professor in flamenco guitar at the Rotterdam Conservatory, Netherlands and an artistic director of the International Guitar Festival in Cordoba. He is a winner of many awards. In 1983 he won the Ramon Montoya Prize for best performing guitarist. Since 1995 an American music magazine has judged him best flamenco guitarist for five consecutive years. In 1997 Paco Peña was proud to be named Oficial de la Cruz de la Orden del Merito Civil, an honour bestowed by King Juan Carlos of Spain. Peña’s first work is Flamenco Mess, realised in 1991 jointly with his formation and a classic choir – St. Martin in the Fields Academy.