BIOGRAPHY
About me
With a busy conducting career in Europe, Asia, Australia, Latin and North America, Diego Matheuz belongs to the first generation of outstanding musicians emerging from Venezuela’s El Sistema that has firmly established its foot on the international circuit. Indeed, the English magazine Gramophone already singled him out as one of ten “Icons of Tomorrow” in 2011.
At the age of 35, he can already look back at fruitful periods as Principal Conductor of La Fenice Opera House in Venice, Principal Guest Conductor – upon Claudio Abbado’s invitation – of the Orchestra Mozart Bologna, and Principal Guest Conductor of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
Some of his most notable concerts with international media coverage include two of La Fenice’s celebrated New Year Concerts, broadcast worldwide on RAI. Moreover, the ECHO Klassik Gala 2016 with Konzerthausorchester Berlin and soloists Anna Netrebko, Khatia Buniatishvili, Martin Fröst and Andrea Bocelli was shown live on German television ZDF. A particular highlight was the “Tokyo Gala Concert” celebrating the 120 year anniversary of Deutsche Grammophon at Suntory Hall in December 2018, which was released on CD a few weeks later. Exchanging the baton with Seiji Ozawa, Diego on this occasion conducted the Saito Kinen Orchestra and soloist Anne-Sophie Mutter in works by Beethoven and Tchaikovsky.
Following Seiji Ozawa’s invitation Diego also went on tour through Asia with the Saito Kinen Orchestra and conducted at the Matsumoto Festivals 2018 and 2019. Another rewarding relationship in Japan has been ongoing with the NHK Symphony Orchestra.
His European and North American concert work consists of partnerships with the Orchestra of Santa Cecilia, Rome, the Orchestra of La Scala, Milan, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Spanish National Orchestra, the BBC and Royal Philharmonic Orchestras, Los Angeles Philharmonic and Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, amongst many others.
Diego feels comfortable in a wide symphonic repertoire ranging from Mozart to Mahler, Shostakovich or Bruckner, Ginastera, Márquez and Marsalis. He draws his inspiration from a background as concertmaster of the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, his conducting teacher José Antonio Abreu and his mentor Claudio Abbado. The deepening of his understanding of music, of conducting and orchestra technique, however, and the search for profundity in his interpretations is a process which he continues to explore, with Mark Stringer in Vienna, for instance.
As an opera conductor, Diego worked both at the Deutsche Oper and Staatsoper Berlin, the Liceu in Barcelona, Palau des Arts, Valencia, and more recently at Teatro São Carlos, Lisbon, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Rossini Festival Pesaro and Teatro Regio di Torino. He returns regularly to La Fenice, for Bartóks Bluebeard’s Castle in early 2020, amongst others. Also in 2020, he will conduct Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich for the first time. His recent debut with Rossini’s Guillaume Tell at the Theater an der Wien immediately brought him an invitation back to Vienna for a new production of Norma with Asmik Grigorian in May 2020.
In Venezuela, Diego regularly carries out intense periods of formation and expands the repertoire of the Sistema orchestras. In addition, he works with the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, of which he is Principal Conductor. With this orchestra, he gave his debut with Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in Colombia in 2013, and in Mexico in 2016, where they played at the Auditorio Nacional and an outdoor concert for more than three thousand people in Iztapalapa, with works by Latin American composers.
In 2018, Diego Matheuz and violinist Francesco Senese founded MACH, a project which is part of the international summer festival “Musica sull’Acqua” in Colico, Italy. This project enables students from all over the world to receive free tuition, coaching and a chance to play alongside their tutors, who are experienced musicians from the Orchestra Mozart, Luzern Festival Orchestra, Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra and others.