Luis Di Matteo

LUIS DI MATTEO was born in 1934. He learned to play the bandoneon from his faher who he perfomed with at an early stage. He finished his musical education at the conservatory in his native city Montevideo, Uruguay. His studies of the bondoneon led him to Buenos Aires in the late 1950s where he met Astor Piazzolla for the first time. In 1962 he founded his first ensemble and began recording with his own formation as well as with other musicians. In 1980 he gave his first performances in Europe where he has been touring regularly. Between 1983 and 1986 he cooperated with the music conservatory of Detmold, Germany. In 1987 he wrote the music for the Swedish filmproduction Black Dawn/Los Dueños del Silencio. He took the opportunity of working and recording with a string orchestra for the first time in 1990/91. In the city of Uljanowsk (Lenin's birthplace) he recorded compositions of his own with the chamber soloists of the Uljanowsk National Symphony Orchestra. (DEL NUEVO CICLO, JARO 4155-2).
As a composer he has worked for various line-ups. Among others he wrote a concert for double bass and string orchestra, duos for cello and violin, or for violin and piano. LUIS DI MATTEO tours regularly in Europe. The last ten years DI MATTEO worked mainly for string quintett, sax quintett and a candombe project with four traditional candombe drummers. A commission with one of the most established classical festivals in Germany: Schleswig Holstein Musikfest brought him an very big success as well in the classical world. The new project is with an ensemble including electronics. The recordings took place spring 2004 in Montevideo.