“Since Segovia, I haven’t heard any guitarist like him” says Belgian guitarist Paul Monballieu about his colleague Jan Depreter, while Richard Vaughan calls him “the Horowitz of the guitar” and Odair Assad counts him among the top 10 of performing classical guitarists in the world. Depreter holds Master Degrees in Music from several Universities and is a prize-winner at more than 15 competitions from Tokyo to Paris, including important prizes in Alhambra, Paris, Tokyo, Vienna, as well as the Francisco Tárrega and Andrés Segovia competitions in Spain. His last victory proved his most significant; after winning the prestigious Printemps de la Guitare international concerto competition he was awarded the gold medal of Queen Fabiola of Belgium. Having played the stages of the Far and not-so-far East, both Americas, the Russian Federation, Australia and all throughout Europe, the only continent Depreter has not played is Antarctica. But he doubts the penguins would be interested. Depreter has performed for almost all ruling monarchs of Europe. Recent performances include successful tours in the U.S.A., the U.K., Germany, Portugal, Spain, Luxemburg and in his homeland Belgium, where every year since 2010, in November he hosts the Antwerpen Gitaarfestival. Between 2001 and 2003 he was professor of guitar at the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp. Ever since he has regularly been invited to teach masterclasses all over the world, including the Guitar Foundation of America (GFA), the well-known Tonebase platform, the Royal Conservatoires of Amsterdam, Scotland and Paris and more recently at the Royal College of Music in London. His compositions for solo guitar are published by Ricordi. Acclaimed CD-productions with Klara, Sony and Brilliant Classics document his artistic achievements. His 2015 Brilliant Classics complete recordings of Turina was “the classical guitar album of the year” according to German National Kultur Radio Bayern. In January 2018 he recorded his 7th solo album “Dedication – music for Julian Bream” of which Classical Guitar Magazine wrote “deep and wistful, celebrating Bream’s joy of the guitar, a true “Dedication” to Bream in his 85th year.”
