| conductor Diego Matheuz
music
Leonard Bernstein Symphonic Dances from West Side Story
Gustav Mahler Symphony No. 1
Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi
The Final Concert in Piazza Duomo will be directed by Diego Matheuz with the Giuseppe Verdi Symphony Orchestra from Milan in a program that includes Leonard Bernstein´s Symphonic Dances from the musical West Side Story and the First Symphony of Gustav Mahler. Besides the occasion of celebrating 150 years since the Bohemian composer’s birth and 20 years after Bernstein’s death, the decision to combine these two great composers of the XIX and XX centuries is not accidental: Bernstein is considered one of the greatest interpreters of Gustav Mahler’s music and is certainly the conductor who best embodied his musical message, perhaps because, like the Austrian musician, he was not only a great conductor, but also an excellent composer.
Linked by an impetuous and intellectual style, they both worked, even if in two different eras, to harmonize the typical conflicts of their way of being and making music. Across this search, the artistic truth that comes from stripping one’s inner conflicts, came to light for them both.
Diego Matheuz is a rising star on the music scene, widely known despite his young age. He is Venezuelan, only 25 years old and one of the best results of the well-known "Sistema" established in 1975 by José Antonio Abreu. Considered Gustavo Dudamel’s successor, he is a pupil of Claudio Abbado, who appointed him Principal Guest Conductor of the Mozart Orchestra in Bologna. Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990), described by The New York Times as "the most amazing talent in the History of American Music" was the first among the musicians of the New World to achieve worldwide fame thanks to his extraordinary and exuberant way of making music capable of catalyzing the attention of a very diversified audience. He achieved worldwide success with the music of West Side Story, the famous Broadway musical. This year marks twenty years since his death.
Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) is considered the genius of the late 19th century and the forerunner of New Music. This year marks the 150th anniversary for the date of birth of the composer, who was director of the Vienna State Opera for ten years, while next year, 2011, will be the centennial of his death.
| Diego Matheuz takes his first steps in the music world within a family with a musical tradition: his father plays the cuatro (a small guitar with four strings, considered the national Venezuelan instrument) and his two sisters are violinist and flutist in the National Orchestra of Barquisimeto.
Born in 1984, at twelve he studies violin at the Conservatory of Barquisimeto, his hometown. Having entered the children’s orchestra of his city as a child, at sixteen he is selected by Abreu to enter the ranks of the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra and moves to Caracas. He now sits in the first parts of the Orchestra, with which he regularly goes on long tours to the U.S. and Europe.
In 2005 he begins his conducting studies with José Antonio Abreu, his great supporter and mentor. Soon Claudio Abbado wants him at his side as an assistant in both Italy and Venezuela, and in 2008 invites him to conduct a concert for the Mozart Orchestra .
He collaborates with Sir Simon Rattle who in July 2007 invites him to conduct the rehearsals of the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra in Venezuela. In September 2008 he makes his début in Italy with the Mozart Orchestra achieving a great success with audiences and critics. He conducts the inaugural concerts of the Mozart Orchestra in the season 2009/2010. In 2009 he is the guest conductor for the season of the Teatro Lirico in Cagliari and the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale of the RAI in Turin. Recently he conducted the final concert of the Gustav Mahler Academy in Bolzano and made his début in Austria at the Festspielhaus St. Poelten with the Tonkuenstlerorchestra.
Diego Matheuz was at Gustavo Dudamel’s side as assistant conductor on his last tours with the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra as well as with the Göthenburg Symphony in Sweden. Last year he worked with Pinchas Zukerman at the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa. His international début as a conductor with the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra took place on March 14th 2008 during the prestigious Casals Festival in Puerto Rico, at the center for Fine Arts Luis A. Ferrè.
Matheuz is one of the first violins of the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra, with which he was on tour in Europe and the United States. He also appeared as soloist with the Miranda State Orchestra, the Lara Symphony Orchestra, the Jovenes Arcos of Venezuela and the Chamber Orchestra at UCLA. He continues his violin studies at the Latin American Violin Academy, under the direction of José Francisco del Castillo.
“El sistema” Venezuelan
The “Fundación del Estado para el Sistema Nacional de las Orquestas Juveniles e Infantiles de Venezuela”, by all simply called el Sistema, was founded in 1975 by José Antonio Abreu. There are three hundred thousand young musicians involved, many of them from the very poor world of the barrios. Each of them has received a musical instrument and adequate education. According to Abbado, it is one of the most important initiatives that Venezuela has produced in the last thirty years and is now spreading rapidly throughout Central and South America. Chile now has over one hundred youth orchestras and the same thing is happening in Argentina, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, the Caribbean and Mexico. But not only. Even Canada, for example, has drawn inspiration from the Venezuelan reality.
The system, therefore, can be considered a kind of virtuous circle that creates and exports great talents, giving them enormous opportunities. As an example, we can mention, in addition to Dudamel, Edicson Ruiz, a young bass player from the Barrios in Caracas who recently entered the ranks of the Berlin Philharmonic, and then Diego Matheuz.
Giuseppe Verdi Symphony Orchestra of Milan
In the last few years, the Giuseppe Verdi Symphony Orchestra of Milan, established in 1993 by Vladimir Delman, has become one of the most important symphony orchestras in Italy, with a repertoire that ranges from Bach to the main composers of nineteenth and twentieth century symphonic music. Every year, the Orchestra’s calendar includes over thirty symphonic concerts with a repertoire that finds classics alongside less common composers, as well as other seasonal programs such as the major educational project “Crescendo in Musica” (Growing up in Music) for children.
Riccardo Chailly, today’s Honorary Conductor, was the musical director from 1999 to 2005. Since 2008/2009, Wayne Marshall and Helmuth Rilling have been the Principal Guest Conductors; Maestro Rudolf Barshai, with a long-standing relationship, since the 2006/2007 season has been Emeritus Conductor, a role previously filled by Carlo Maria Giulini until his death. The horn player Radovan Vlatkovic and pianist Simone Pedroni have been resident artists since 2007/2008. For
he 2009/2010 season the Musical Director is the Chinese Xian Zhang, while Ruben Jais will fill the role of Resident Conductor.
The Orchestra’s new home, the Auditorium in Milan, was inaugurated on October 6th 1999, with Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 Resurrection conducted by Riccardo Chailly.
Another distinguishing feature of the Orchestra is the constitution in October 1998, of the Giuseppe Verdi Symphony Choir of Milan, led until his death, by Maestro Romano Gandolfi, a prestigious figure of choral conducting who had worked with the greatest conductors and in the most important Opera Houses all over the world. The Choir currently has 100 elements capable of performing the grand operatic-symphonic repertoires from Baroque to twentieth century.
Several recurring appointments mark the Verdi’s musical journey: the complete cycle of Mahler’s symphonies, the annual appointment with one of Bach’s great Passions at Eastertime, and the New Year’s concert, featuring Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.
Among others, the Orchestra has been conducted by Riccardo Chailly, Georges Prętre, Riccardo Muti, Valery Gergiev, Rudolf Barshai, Claus Peter Flor, Christopher Hogwood, Helmuth Rilling, Peter Maag, Marko Letonja, Daniele Gatti, Roberto Abbado, Ivor Bolton, Kazushi Ono, Vladimir Jurowski, Yakov Kreizberg, Ulf Schirme and Eiji Oue. During the season 2005/2006, various artists made their début with the Verdi, Herbert Blomstedt and Krzysztof Penderecki, while in 2006/2007 Leonard Slatkin, Vladimir Fedoseyev and Wayne Marshall. The Orchestra has collaborated with soloists such as Martha Argerich, Mstislav Rostropovich, Vadim Repin, Lynn Harrell, Viktoria Mullova, Han-Na Chang, Sarah Chang, Midori, Alexander Kobrin, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Nelson Freire, Salvatore Accardo, Mario Brunello, Alexander Toradze, Hilary Hahn and Radovan Viatkovic.
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