Roland Dyens was born on October 19, 1955, and began studying the guitar at the age of 9. At 14, he enrolled at the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris to study with the Spanish master Alberto Ponce. He passed his Concert Degree with high honors in 1976. He then won several prizes, including the Villa-Lobos Special Prize at the Alessandria International Contest in Italy, and became a laureate of the Beracasa and Menuhin Foundations. In addition to his superb background in performance, Roland Dyens also studied composition and orchestration with the master Désiré Dondeyne. He was awarded first prize in harmony, counterpoint and musical analysis.

      Roland Dyens has continued to pursue the dual calling of pedagogue and performer, and is widely recognized as a consumate interpreter, arranger, composer and improvisational artist who has a rare ability to share his musical insights and performance skills with students. He is a perennial guest in various festivals and prestigious events in France and abroad. He has appeared many times at the Salle Cortot, Théâtre de Paris, Espace Cardin, Salle Gaveau, Auditorium des Halles, and at the International Guitar Festivals of Nice, Cannes, Paris, Liege (Belgium), Arvika (Sweden), Tychy (Poland), Esztergom (Hungary), Marktoberdorf (Germany), the Classical Guitar Festival of Great Britain, Festival du Marais (Paris), Aix en Provence, Radio France Festival at Montpellier, Midem, Printemps de Bourges, Musicora, Carrefour Mondial de la Guitare in Martinique, The Stetson University Guitar Workshop (Florida, USA) and many more. He has toured successfully in the United States, the Middle-East, Indonesia, Scandinavia, Poland, Brazil... In addition to his many live concerts, Roland Dyens makes regular radio and television appearances.

      Roland Dyens' career as teacher, mentor and pedagogue is equally demanding. His master classes and guitar workshops are very highly regarded. His summer workshop in the bucolic French countryside have become something of a tradition. He has sat on numerous academic juries, among them those of the Scola Cantorum, Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris, and the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris. He has also served on the juries of numerous international competitions (Montelimar, Geneva, Fort de France, Bari...). In 1987, he won the Grand Prix du Disque de l'Académie Charles-Cros during the celebration of the centenary of Heitor Villa-Lobos, and the year after, he was classified among the hundred best living guitarists, of all styles. In the last few years, he appeared on the cover of five major guitar magazines: Les Cahiers de la Guitare (France), Classical Guitar (England), Gitarre & Laute (Germany), Guit'art (Italy) and Gitary Swiat (Poland).

      Roland Dyens continues to pursue numerous projects as a recording artist and composer. Among his published compositions are several works for solo guitar, two quartets, two octets, a concerto for guitar and string orchestra (Concerto Métis), a concertino for flute and guitar ensemble (Air Ascendant Terre), a concerto for guitar and ensemble of 21 guitars (Concerto en Si) as well as a guitar duo, Côté Nord, which he played with Alberto Ponce in 1993, and which is brilliantly and successfully performed by the reknowned duo Assad, to whom he dedicated the piece. His many arrangements have been received enthusiastically, and their inventiveness serves to extend the possibilities of the guitar. His eclectic sources range from the popular (French Songs vols. 1 and 2) jazz and latin idioms (Round Midnight, Nuages, Berimbau), to the sublime (Aria from the Bachianas Brasileiras Nº 5, Pavane Pour Une Infante Défunte...). Thanks to his unique talent, breathtaking diversity and virtuosity, and the originality of his music, Roland Dyens has definitely earned a place among the most innovative and complete musicians of his generation.

      As of October 1998, Roland Dyens has been teaching an eclectic classical guitar course of his own creation at a Jazz and Rock school in Paris, called simply l'École. This international class is open to guitarists of all levels, ages and styles. In addition to classical interpretation, Mr. Dyens teaches an approach to the art of arranging, harmony and improvisation.

      In June 2000, Roland Dyens was named Professor of Guitar at the Conservatoire National supérieur de musique de Paris, assuming responsibility for the class of his teacher, Alberto Ponce.