CARLOS VIEU – conductor
Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1966, he graduated from the National University of La Plata as Professor in Chamber Music in 1990, and later on as Licensed in Orchestra Conducting in 1992, studying with Mtro Guillermo Scarabino. He also undertook studies at both the National and Municipal Conservatory of Buenos Aires, coursing the diplomas of Instrument (Guitar and Complementary Piano), Lyrical Singing and Choral Conducting. He took perfecting courses and Masterclasses with Maestri such as Romano Gandolfi (“Wagner Association of Buenos Aires”), Mtro Kurt Masur and Charles Dutoit (Colon Theater),Mtro Helmuth Rilling (International Bach Academy) and Mtro Antoni Ros Marbá (Barcelona,Spain). In 1993 he received a scholarship from the OEA to study Orchestra Conducting in Venezuela within the system of youth Orchestras, led by Mtro Mario Benzecry. He also studied Piano with Francisco Votti and Violoncello with Washington Castro.
His professional debut came in 1992 conducting Verdi´s “Il Trovattore” for the Buenos Aires Opera Festivals Association at the Roma Theater in Avellaneda. Since then he has performed as a guest conductor for the most prestigious orchestras of his country; the National Symphonic Orchestra, the Buenos Aires Philharmonic Orchestra, the Colon Theater Orchestra as well as the orchestra of the Teatro Argentino of La Plata. He also conducted the Philharmonic and Symphonic Orchestra of Cuyo (Mendoza), San Juan, Bahia Blanca, Rosario, Santa Fe and Entre Rios. He conducted in Uruguay for the SODRE Symphonic Orchestra and the Montevideo Philharmonic Orchestra and in Chile for the Symphonic Orchestras of Concepcion, Antofagasta and the USACH. He was in front of the National Symphonic Orchestra of Peru, the Symphonic Orchestra of Lara and the Symphonic Orchestra of Llanos Occidentales (Venezuela), the Valles Orchestra in Barcelona, Spain, and the National Opera as well as the Radio and TV Orchestra of Armenia.
In 1995 he won the position of head conductor for the Symphonic Band of Buenos Aires, and from 1998 to 2004 he was head conductor of the Symphonic Orchestra of Mar del Plata. He was appointed in 2008 as Musical Director of the Colon Theater Orchestra of Buenos Aires. In 2010 he conducted the Penn State University Orchestra (EEUU) dictating a Master class on Shostakovich´s 10th symphony. Between the years 2010 and 2012 he conducted the Orchestral Academy of the Colon Theater, and in 2010 he had the honor of conducting the first concert at the newly restored Colon Theater of Buenos Aires, before its official opening, and performing Beethoven´s 9th symphony with the theater´s resident orchestra and choir.
He has specialized in the lyric repertoire and has conducted more than thirty titles over the last ten years, gaining consistent praise from critics. He opened Cuyo Symphonic Orchestra season in 2011 with a Lyric Gala with soprano Fabiana Bravo before twenty five thousand persons, and closed that same season with a version of the Nutcracker staged at the Gral San Martin Park. That same year he conducted Puccini´s “Tosca” for the Rosario Opera and Verdi´s Requiem with the Provincial Orchestra and the National Polyphonic Choir at the theater “ El Circulo” of Rosario. He also conducted the operas “Simón Boccanegra” for the Colon Theater, “Cavallería Rusticana” and “Pagliacci” for the Solis Theater in Montevideo, Uruguay, and “Sor Angélica” and “Pagliacci” for Buenos Aires Lírica, working with tenor Luis Lima. He was also in front of season concerts for the National Symphonic Orchestra and the Philarmonic Orchestra of Buenos Aires. In 2012 he conducted the 10th Zurich Gala at Mar del Plata, as well as the Philarmonic Orchestra at the Centenary Park, and the Symphonic and Philharmonic Orchestras of Montevideo. At Lima, Peru, he conducted “Turandot” with soprano Elisabeth Matos, and will be conducting Rossini´s “Barber of Seville” at Rosario, title he will also conduct for his debut at the Laussane Opera in Switzerland, in 2014.
Vieu was distinguished in 2005 with an award for best Argentinean conductor given by the Association of Musical Critics; he had previously received a distinction for “Notable Young Musician” in 1992 and the Camu-Unesco award in 2000 for the diffusion of Argentine repertoire. In 2009 he received the Konex award to trajectory in Orchestra Conducting, as one of the five best national conductors of the decade. He has given several lectures about Lyrical Repertoire organized by the Colon Theater foundation, and since 2007 he is Head Professor of Orchestra Conducting at the Catholic University of Argentina (UCA).