Versatility, musicality and technical precision, and above all a natural and passionate approach are trademark features of French conductor Ariane Matiakh. The daughter of two opera singers, she grew up in an exceptionally musical environment and learnt to play the piano at an early age. Later, she studied orchestral conducting in Vienna, where she also sang in the renowned Arnold Schoenberg Choir under conductors including Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Adam Fischer. Particularly formative experiences during her comprehensive training include the time she spent studying with Leopold Hager and Seiji Ozawa.
Her first appointment conducting in an opera house was at the Opéra et Orchestre de Montpellier, where she worked closely together with James Conlon, Armin Jordan, Emmanuel Krivine and Alain Altinoglu, among others. Subsequent engagements brought her to the Komische Oper Berlin, the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm, and to Amsterdam, Gothenburg, Graz, Nice, Strasbourg and Halle. In 2009, she was nominated “Discovery of the Year” by the most important music prize in France, the “Révélation des Victoires de la musique”.
Today, Ariane Matiakh’s repertoire covers opera and ballet, a wide variety of symphonic works, contemporary compositions and baroque music. She often appears as guest conductor with leading ensembles such as the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Wiener Symphoniker, The ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien, the Orchestre de Paris, the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Dresden Philharmonic, the WDR and MDR Symphony Orchestras, the Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg. At the Royal Opera House in London she guested in a production of La Bohème.
In the 2020/21 season, she made her debuts with orchestras including the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Sinfonieorchester Basel as well as – with Dusapin’s Penthésilea – with the Orchestre de Paris. A reinvitation brings her back to the Opéra du Rhin in Strasbourg with a new production of Samson et Dalila.
In the 2021/22 season, she makes her debuts with the Bamberger Symphoniker, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, at the Opéra Comique in Paris with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France for a creation of Philippe Hersant, and at the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet in Oslo.
In recognition of her achievements in French musical life and representing French culture abroad, Ariane Matiakh was awarded the “Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres” by the French ministry of culture in 2014.
