Dario van Gammeren

Biography

Dutch-born classical guitarist Dario van Gammeren has established an international career as a performer, educator and musicologist. He has performed widely as a soloist and chamber musician in the United Kingdom and abroad, and he has worked with numerous composers to broaden the classical guitar’s repertoire. Dario is Programme Leader for the Independent Study Programme (Advanced), the Postgraduate Advanced Diploma, and the Certificate in the Practice of Music Making. In addition, he is Digital Learning Manager, in which capacity he leads on the development and implementation of digital technologies that support a blended approach to curriculum delivery.

Dario studied classical guitar at the Royal Conservatoire in the Netherlands, where he obtained his Master of Music degree. He then continued his performance studies at the Royal Northern College of Music, where he also conducted MPhil research into composer-performer collaboration. In 2008 he received his doctorate from the University of Manchester, where he researched competing editorial principles, mainly drawing on literary studies, and assessed their applicability to the editing of music for guitar by non-guitarist composers.

Currently, Dario is active in two fields of research. First, he researches music and cultural identity in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands, with a focus on the social impact of Aryanization of the arts. Second, he is engaged in research into the creative use of technology to widen access and participation in Higher Education performing arts programmes. He has published in both fields of research and is a regular speaker at conferences in the United Kingdom and abroad.

In addition to his roles at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, Dario is a Lecturer in Academic Studies at the Royal Northern College of Music, where he teaches performance studies, practical pedagogy, research electives and artist development, and an Associate Lecturer at the Open University, where he teaches a range of arts and humanities modules. He has held prior teaching posts at the University of Manchester, Department of Music, and the University of Warwick, Centre for Lifelong Learning.