Enrique Arturo

DIEMECKE

 

Enrique Diemecke is the only internationally acclaimed conductor to ever hold the position of Artistic General Director of the world renowned Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. The 110 year old acoustical and architectural marvel is arguably the greatest opera house and theater in the world. In the rich 110 year history of the Teatro Colón, the world’s greatest artists of their day brought their artistry to its stage. 

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Among them Arturo Toscanini, Herbert von Karajan, Fritz Kreisler, Jasha Heifetz, Pablo Casals, Janos Starker, Artur Rubinstein, Arturo Benedetto Michelangeli, Enrico Caruso, Maria Callas, Anna Pavlova and Vaslav Nijinsky. Celebrated composers who have conducted their own works at the Colón include Richard Strauss, Igor Stravinsky and Camille Saint-Saëns.

Arturo Diemecke

Maestro Diemecke began his rise to musical leadership at the Teatro Colón as Music Director of the Buenos Aires Philharmonic, an anchor ensemble of the theater. He led the Philharmonic for an unprecedented 17 years, and as General Artistic Director of the Teatro Colón, oversaw all artistic activities of opera, concerts and ballet, from 2017 through 2022.

Maestro Diemecke has been Music Director of the award-winning Flint Symphony Orchestra in Michigan for 33 seasons. Maestro Diemecke’s recording with the Flint Symphony Orchestra of the 1896 version of Mahler’s First Symphony, which includes the subsequently deleted “Blumine” movement, was nominated for a Grammy Award. He has been Music Director of the Long Beach Symphony Orchestra, the Bogota Philharmonic, and was at the helm of the National Symphony Orchestra of Mexico for 20 years, leading the ensemble on a ten-city tour of the United States, culminating with a program of Latin American masterworks at New York’s Carnegie Hall. He and the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de México were nominated for “Best Classical Album” for the 3rd Annual Latin Grammy Awards, for their recording of Carlos Chávez’ Violin and Piano Concertos with violinist Pablo Diemecke and pianist Jorge Federico Osorio.

In 2018 and 2019 Diemecke conducted the orchestras of the Teatro Colón in massive concerts for 160,000 people in Rosedal Square in the Palermo quarter of Buenos Aires, and the San Martín Square in Mar del Plata. In 2017 Maestro Diemecke was awarded the “Mérito en Artes” medal by the Asamblea Legislativa of México City, and in 2018 the coveted “Mexicano Distinguido” prize from the Chancellery of the Government of México.

Maestro Diemecke is a frequent guest of orchestras throughout the world, most notably the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, French National Orchestra, BBC Symphony, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, L’Orchestre de Paris, Residentie Orkest in The Hague, Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Warsaw Philharmonic, the Residentie Orkest in The Hague, the Queensland Symphony Orchestra in Brisbane, the Russian National Orchestra, the Bogotá Philharmonic, the Puerto Rico Symphony, Simón Bolivar Orchestra in Caracas, l’Orchestre National de Lorraine, the National Orchestra of Montpellier, the Valladolid Symphony, the ORCAM Madrid, L’Orchestre de Isle de France, and the symphony orchestras of Baltimore, Houston, Minnesota, and Auckland. He is also frequently invited to festivals such as the Lincoln Center Summer Festival, the Hollywood Bowl Festival, Wolf Trap, Autumno Musicale a Como (Italy), Europalia (Brussels), World Fair Expo Sevilla (Spain), Festival International Radio France, and the World Orchestra Festival in Moscow where he led the Bogotá Philharmonic.

Maestro Diemecke is an experienced conductor of opera, having served as Music Director of the Bellas Artes Opera of México from 1984-1990, where he led more than 20 productions including Faust, La bohème, Salome, Elektra, Ariadne auf Naxos, Der fliegende Hollander, Rigoletto, Turandot, Madama Butterfly, and Roméo et Juliette. He has since returned to the house as a guest conductor with new productions of Lohengrin, Boris Godunov, and Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice. Maestro Diemecke returned to opera as he opened the 2007-2008 season of the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires with a new production of Werther, followed by performances of Massenet’s Le Jongleur de Notre Dame with tenor Roberto Alagna in Montpellier, which was released by Deutsche Grammophon and awarded the prestigious Grand Prix du Disque. He is a regular guest of the famed Teatro Zarzuela in Madrid, and was awarded the Jean Fontaine Orpheus d’Or Gold Medal for “Best Vocal Music Recording” by France’s Academy of Lyric Recordings for his recording of Donizetti’s The Exiles of Siberia with the L’Orchestre Philharmonique National de Montpellier. Maestro Diemecke was previously honored with a Gold Medal from the Academy of Lyric Recordings with the Bruno Walter Orpheus d’Or Prize for “Best Opera Conductor” for his live recording of Mascagni’s Parisina, from the Radio France Festival. His most recent operatic performances were Pelléas et Mélisande in 2018 and Les contes d’Hoffmann in 2019 at the Teatro Colón.

Maestro Diemecke is an experienced conductor of opera, having served as Music Director of the Bellas Artes Opera of México from 1984-1990, where he led more than 20 productions including Faust, La bohème, Salome, Elektra, Ariadne auf Naxos, Der fliegende Hollander, Rigoletto, Turandot, Madama Butterfly, and Roméo et Juliette.  He has since returned as a guest conductor with new productions of Lohengrin, Boris Godunov, and Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice. Maestro Diemecke returned to opera as he opened the 2007-2008 season of the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires with a new production of Werther, followed by performances of Massenet’s Le Jongleur de Notre Dame with tenor Roberto Alagna in Montpellier, which was released by Deutsche Grammophon and awarded the prestigious Grand Prix de l’Academie du Disque Lyrique. He is a regular guest of the famed Teatro Zarzuela in Madrid, and was awarded the Jean Fontaine Orpheus d’Or Gold Medal for “best vocal music recording” by France’s Academy of Lyric Recordings for his recording of Donizetti’s The Exiles of Siberia with the L’Orchestre Philharmonique National de Montpellier. Maestro Diemecke was previously honored with a Gold Medal from the Academy of Lyric Recordings with the Bruno Walter Orpheus d’Or Prize for “Best Opera Conductor” for his live recording of Mascagni’s Parisina, from the Radio France Festival. His last performances including Pelléas et Mélisande in 2018 and Les contes d’Hoffmann in 2019 at the Teatro Colón.

Diemecke is an accomplished composer and orchestral arranger, and has conducted his Die-Sir-E, during the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de México tour of the U.S. in 1999. The Die-Sir-E was commissioned by the Radio France Festival for the World Cup Final Concert in France in 1998. Maestro Diemecke was commissioned to write a tone poem for the Flint Symphony Orchestra, and his works Chacona a Chávez and Guitar Concerto have received many performances both in Europe and in the United States. During the 2001-2002 season, he gave the world premiere of his work Camino y visión with the Tulsa Philharmonic.

Recordings of the music of Revueltas, Chávez, and Moncayo for Sony/Mexico with the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de México have been best-sellers in Mexico, earning Maestro Diemecke and orchestra the Golden Record Award. Other releases by Maestro Diemecke include the music of Villa-Lobos and Silvestre Revueltas on the Dorian label with the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela. Maestro Diemecke has earned particular renown as a pioneering advocate of the music of Carlos Chávez and Silvestre Revueltas, Mexico’s greatest composers. His CD of Revueltas’ masterwork La noche de los Mayas has become a recording classic.

Born in Mexico City, Enrique Diemecke comes from a large family of classical musicians. He began to play the violin at the age of six, studying for many years with the legendary violinist Henryk Szeryng. At the age of nine he added french horn, piano, and percussion to his studies. Mr. Diemecke attended Catholic University in Washington, D.C. and continued his studies with Charles Bruck at the Pierre Monteux School for Advanced Conductors on a scholarship granted by Madame Monteux.

Maestro Diemecke is sought after as a conducting teacher. His workshops and masterclasses in Mexico and Argentina are extremely popular with young aspiring conductors. He will bring his passion for sharing his experience and techniques to students in the United States in 2023 with a new conducting program at the Flint Institute of Music with the Flint Symphony Orchestra, in the summer of 2023.