Born on July the 29 of 1983, in Merida , Venezuela . Since he was very young he was able to enjoy excellent music thanks to his father, Guillermo Maldonado, a well known singer. Next to that, all the members in his family are great musicians, art and good music lovers.

At thirteen he officially begins his musical studies with the drummer Edicson Sabogal, who guided and helped him during three years. At the beginning of the year 2000 and with only 17 years he becomes a formal member of the percussion line of the Orquesta Sinfónica Juvenil del Estado Mérida (Juvenile Symphonic Orchestra of the State of Merida) and begins studying drums and classical percussion with Jerry Cardenas, a well known professor; at the same time he takes individual harmony and arranging lessons with the guitarist Javier Alarcon.

During the same period he begins to get known as a drummer playing at local theaters and night clubs with different bands and musical genders like rock, pop and jazz.

On 2002 he moves to New York due to his desire of improving his skills as a drummer and acquiring new musical knowledge, he studied in "The Collective Soul of Music", where he finds important drummers such as   Kim Plainfield, Michael Laurent, Memo Acebedo, Meter Retzlaff, Fred Klatz and the pianists Bob Quarantana and Fernando Hernández. At the same time he received magistral lessons from Horacio "El negro" Hernández, Dom Famularo, Steve Smith, Billy Hart, among others.

Since he is back he has shown to be a great drummer, working next to important musicians of Venezuela's scene like:   Pablo Gil, Leo Blanco, Alfredo Naranjo, César Orozco, Oscar Fanega, Hugo Fuguet, Luca Vicenzzeti, Prisca Dávila, María Virginia Ramírez, Javier Alarcón,   he also worked in discographical productions such as: Qué tiene tu imaginación? From the pop band "D'Cero", Angelo, Miguel Angel Parra and he also made some TV and radio jingles.

At the moment he lives in Caracas, gives lessons at the  "El Taller de Jazz Caracas" (Caracas' Jazz workshop), a Jazz school managed by the important bass player Oscar Fanega, next to Francisco Vielma he is at the head of "Nuevas Almas World Jazz Ensemble", they are co-producing with the record label "Cacao Música", where we can appreciate his enormous talent not only as a drummer but also as a composer. Diego is without a doubt a great talent that with only 22 years has an outstanding musical background and a promising future.