WPG 2024 COACHES

Diego Rubio (Spain)

Born in Zamora, Spain, Diego started his percussion studies at the Professional Conservatory of Music in Zamora. Diego moved to Canary Islands to finish his higher education studies in percussion with Francisco Díaz Martín. In 2013 he graduated with Honors. In 2015, Diego completed his Master’s Degree in Marimba Studies in Antwerp, Belgium, and graduated with Honors together with international soloist Ludwig Albert.

During this time, in conjunction with his teaching work, he has been part of numerous orchestras: JOSCyL (Castilla y León Youth Orchestra), EUYWO (European Union Youth Wind Orchestra), WYO (World Youth Orchestra), and OST (Tenerife Symphony Orchestra).

He collaborated TAK-NARA Percussion Group, highlighting his participation in PASIC 2013, held in Indianapolis, together with international artist Nebojsa Jovan Zivkovic.

Amongst other proyects, Diego has played in various countries including, Spain, Portugal, France, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Austria, Italy, the United States, and Belgium. Recently, he has become the first marimba player to perform a concert in the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium.

Diego Rubio continued to develop his skills with well-known artists such as Rafa Mas, Raúl Benavent, Pepe Sánchez, Alberto Román, Emmanuel Sejourne, Victor Mendoza, Nebojsa Jovan Zivkovic, Tchiki duo, Slovenian Percussion duo, Axoum Duo, Igor Lesnik, David Friedman, Li Biao, Daniella Ganeva, Pei-Ching Wu, Chin Cheng Lin and marimba artist Keiko Abe among others.

In 2016, he was finalist at the 5th Young Instrumentalists Competition organised by The Wagnerian Association of Madrid, as well as Villalar Foundation Scholarship for Contemporary Artistic Creation, both in 2016 and 2018.

As a soloist, Diego has given recitals and master classes in percussion and marimba around Spain.

Diego Rubio has been an Adams Artist since 2022.

Tim Palmer (United Kingdom) - WPG Artistic Director

Tim began his percussion studies at the Birmingham Conservatoire in 2000. He graduated with a 1st class BMus(Hons) and AdvPgdip with Distinction in 2006. Upon leaving the Conservatoire, he was awarded an Honorary Member of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire (HonBC).

Tim is widely recognised for his activities as half of the Maraca2 Percussion Duo. Since it’s inception in 2003, the group have toured the globe and have headlined at many of the world's prestigious festivals. In 2006, the group opened and performed the opening ceremony of the European Indoor Athletics Championships in Birmingham. They have performed as an evening headline act as part of the PASIC (Percussive Arts Society International Convention) in Indianapolis, 2013 and have visited over 60 universities and conservatoires worldwide.

Maraca2 have recently become active as soloists with orchestras and have just performed their first Percussion Concerto with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel. They also appeared as soloists with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra conducted by Pascal Rophé in 2019.