Here comes another “Gustavo Dudamel”, also groomed in Venezuela’s National System of Youth And Children’s Orchestras (aka “El Sistema”).

In another success story for El Sistema,  it was recently announced that 27-year-old conductor and violinist Diego Matheuz is to be the new resident principal conductor of La Fenice, the great opera house in Venice, starting next year. He succeeds Eliahu Inbal and has signed a four-year contract.

Matheuz is principal guest conductor of Claudio Abbado’s Orchestra Mozart in Bologna. Two years ago, he replaced Antonio Pappano for a tour of Italy and Switzerland with the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale Santa Cecilia. He’s also conducted the La Scala Philharmonic, at Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and at the Spoleto (Italy) Festival. He made his debut at La Fenice just last October, leading a production of Rigoletto. Matheuz is a concertmaster/violinist of the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela.

Here’s a YouTube video of Matheuz conducting El Sistema’s best high-school and college-aged students. They are known as the Teresa Carreno Youth Orchestra and have toured all over the world.

A little motivation for our Atlanta Music Project students!