Diego Matheuz, in the second of a three-year attachment to the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra as Principal Guest Conductor, is the very model of a modern maestro. First, there’s his youth (he celebrates his 30th birthday this year) and his Venezuelan good looks married with a charmingly self-effacing manner.
Yet his achievements, as detailed by the MSO, are many. In summary: debut with Claudio Abbado’s Orchestra Mozart in Bologna in October 2008, appointed Principal Guest Conductor the following year. In September 2009 joined the Santa Cecilia Orchestra as replacement for their music director, Antonio Pappano. In 2010 his professional opera debut was conducting Rigoletto at La Fenice in Venice, and he was appointed Principal Conductor there in 2011.
Matheuz has conducted the Royal Philharmonic, the La Scala Philharmonic Orchestra on tour in Berlin, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Israel Philharmonic and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. Other engagements with the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, Seiji Ozawa’s Saito Kinen Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra, Monte Carlo Philharmonic, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Orchestra of Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, and the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra.
More recently there have been performances with the National Arts Centre Orchestra Ottawa, Hamburg State Philharmonic, Vienna Chamber Orchestra … and, of course the MSO. Matheuz recalls: “I came in 2012 as guest conductor Music Bowl concerts: the connection with MSO was good and immediate. The call came when in New York to be principal guest conductor (of the MSO) … wonderful place, wonderful orchestra, wonderful food!”
In making the announcement of the three-year appointment, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra chairman Harold Mitchell said ”Diego made a huge impression on audience and Orchestra alike with his debut earlier this year.
“We are thrilled that a conductor so clearly destined for great things will be playing a major part in the life of the Orchestra and Chorus,” he said. Yet Matheuz, who was named by Gramophone magazine as one of the “new conductors on the verge of greatness”, typically shares the credit for what were described as “electrifying” concerts.
“The two concerts in the Myer Bowl were an amazing experience for me; firstly because there were so many people in the audience and they became crazy, as if at a rock concert, and secondly because the feeling between the Orchestra and me was so very good. I am very proud of my job and also proud because I saw so many Venezuelan flags in the audience; it was wonderful,” Matheuz said.
Diego Matheuz began violin studies in his hometown of Barquisimeto before moving to the conservatorium at Caracas. And in this simple statement lies the heart of his mystique, as the now-famous conductor is a product of the iconic El Sistema, the “system” started in 1975 by economist and musician Jose Antonio Abreu in Venezuela to open up classical music education to poor children.
The movement was so successful the government supported it within a year or two, and its worldwide fame continues to grow. When asked what he would like to talk about, Matheuz unhesitatingly chose El Sistema, ahead of any of his own successes or future plans.
“The most important thing I want to talk about is bringing classical music to the young … it is very important now in this moment of the world”, says Matheuz.
“I think every person in the world has the right to have access to classical music”.
In response to the argument that “In hard times we can’t afford teach music, we need jobs, not music”, Matheuz is scornful. “I think the basis of our society is the culture”, he argues. “Lose it and you lose identity, then you are nothing.
“Culture for me is one of the most important things for identity”, he concludes.
Matheuz says that “ El Sistema created a system to create classical music for people without education, without money … but we have people with possibilities.”
However, it seems his view is even more democratic. “El Sistema is for everybody”, says Matheuz. “And the beautiful thing is that you can see in the orchestra children with money, children without money, but in the orchestra they are the same”.
“In the same community, it’s beautiful, it creates a different perspective of life in both of them … an orchestra is like that – a perfect community. Children who play violin, flute, they have to listen to each other … If they don’t listen to each other, they don’t play together”.
“The problem now in the world is not listening, that’s why we have so many fights … even with all the technology we still don’t have communication”, Matheuz goes on. “But the orchestra is wonderful to create communication.”
So the idea of El Sistema is not to make everyone a professional musician, it’s “to give everyone – especially children – the possibility to grow up with a different view of life”.
Matheuz also has sympathy for children whom others might see as privileged. “Yes some are economically more advantaged: but they just stay in the house, playing the latest PlayStation all day … Music makes you mature faster, you have more possibilities … in music school, practising creates discipline, respect, love for what you are doing.
“How many people are in something they don’t like?” Matheuz asks.
Certainly not the maestro himself! “My father brought me to music school when I was eight or nine, I started to play violin and I fell in love immediately with the music”, he recalls. “And from the very first I was part of El Sistema. That’s the beautiful thing about it – you’re immediately part of family. They give you an instrument for free, instruction for free, so you have all the possibilities to be a musician.
“I knew from the beginning”, he says. “I told my dad. I will move to Karakas (four hours away, and they supported me. “My joy, my happiest moment was when I went to the conservatorium.”
Now much of Diego Matheuz’s energies are devoted to promoting the ideals of El Sistema throughout the world. He is an enthusiastic supporter of the MSO’s Pizzicato project in Melbourne and looks forward to the time when participating children will put on a concert.
“It’s important for me to share a little of my music with the children”, says Matheuz. He is proud of the growth and influence of El Sistema. There are 500,000 children involved now, but “our challenge is to have a million involved in the next five to ten years”, Matheuz smiles.
Diego Matheuz was interviewed by Suzanne Yanko at Southbank 18/03/2014
