Mateus Dandalo

Mateus Modaffore Dandalo was born and raised in São Paulo, Brazil. He began his violin studies at the age of 10 at the Instituto Grupo Pão de Açúcar with Renata Jaffé. At 11 he debuted as a soloist playing Antonio Vivaldi's violin concerto no. 3 in G major. At 12 he was awarded first place in the 14th Paulo Bosisio strings competition in the category “violin C”. Mateus was a member of the Instituto Pão de Açúcar Orchestra for seven years, leading it in 2015 and 2017. He went on tour with the orchestra around Brazil, Argentina, Italy, France and the United States, playing in Carnegie Hall, Teatro Municipal de São Paulo, Teatro São Pedro, Crowne Center, Luna Park and Disneyland to name a few. He has participated in several music festivals such as the Pensacola Christian College Summer Festival, the Festival Internacional de Música de Londrina, the Interlochen Arts Festival, the Malvern Autumn Music Festival, the RNCM Chamber Music Festival and the Iguazú en Concierto. In these festivals he had the opportunity to play with conductors such as JoAnn Falletta, Christopher Rountree, Joshua Weilerstein, Carlos Kalmar, Jung-Ho Pak, Daisuke Soga, among others. He also worked with musicians such as Conrad Tao, Zuill Bailey, Norberto Garcia , Dennis Kim, Donald Grant. Since starting the violin Mateus has played in several masterclasses for renowned teachers such as Ning Feng, Mauricio Fuks, Ara Sarkissian, Hajnal Pivnick, David Waterman, Betina Stegman and Gustav Frielinghaus. In 2021 Mateus graduated from the Royal Northern College of Music under the tutelage of Julia Hanson. He is also a member of the Levare Quartet, with whom he won the Weill Chamber Music Prize in 2018 and the Nossek Chamber Music Prize in 2021. The Levare Quartet was also selected to be RNCM's Studio Quartet of the year 2021-22. Mateus is currently undertaking his Marters degree course at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London under the tutelage of Krzyzstof Smietana.