"I think it was the violin that chose me,” says María Dueñas, the 23-year-old Spanish sensation who is making her New York Philharmonic debut January 29–February 1. “My parents listened to classical music often, and it was around me in a very natural way. I never felt any pressure to practice, from myself or from anyone else. It was like a passion. I was a very introverted child, so I feel like it was a way of talking, of expressing myself through music.”
At 18 Dueñas dazzled the classical world by winning the 2021 Menuhin Competition for Young Violinists, leading to debuts with top international orchestras and a recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon. She has captivated listeners with breathtaking technical skill wedded to extraordinary expressive spontaneity. “To me, emotion and precision are not separated, they’re intertwined,” she says. “To truly express a musical idea, there has to be a great technical basis, for sure. It’s an instrument through which I can achieve whatever musical idea I want, but within that discipline lies the freedom to be spontaneous.”
Reflecting on her journey, Dueñas emphasizes joy rather than sacrifice, but she acknowledges that sustained excellence is a product of hard work. “The technical base is never there for life; it’s a never-ending process that has to be worked on every day,” she says. “I also try to exercise and take care of my body — swimming is really helpful — and I am inspired by other art forms, such as what you see at museums. I like to go into nature, to take walks and find inspiration outside the practice room.”
Dueñas is grateful to have been entrusted with two remarkable instruments. “Each has very much its own soul, and their sound is really different,” she says, “so it allows me to cover all the possible works in the violin repertoire, and to achieve a huge range of colors. The Gagliano, on loan from the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben, has a warm, silver, and brilliant sound — a very human sound. The Stradivarius, from the Nippon Music Foundation, has a lot of power and depth and darkness. Depending on the program, I choose one or the other.”
One of Dueñas’s artistic goals is to forge her own unique sound. “Jascha Heifetz, for example, had a sound that you can immediately recognize, and that is something I definitely work to have some day in my own playing,”she says. Another is letting her Spanish heritage show in her playing. “It’s important for me to remember where I come from, to play as honestly as possible, to show my inner world and my roots. Of course I was very influenced by Spanish culture, by flamenco, by all these very rich different dances, so this sort of freedom I try to translate into the music.”
Dueñas is happy to be making her Philharmonic debut conducted by Manfred Honeck, a longtime mentor, performing Beethoven’s Violin Concerto. “Maestro Honeck trusted me from the beginning and encouraged me,” she says. “Even though it was risky to record the Beethoven Concerto as my first album, he was on board from the first minute. I’m really grateful, because he embodies this tradition of Austrian music, and it was the perfect match for Beethoven.”
She describes the concerto as “an amazing piece to present the humanity of Beethoven and the drama of his music. It embodies so many philosophical questions of struggle, of freedom, of hope. And it shows so many faces of myself as an artist. Through the fact that I wrote my own cadenzas, I’m also able to bring a more personal note to the piece.”
“For me,” she adds, “the New York Philharmonic represents not just excellence but a great connection to the community. Joining them onstage feels like entering a living legacy.”
