Artistic and musical director of the Paris Mozart Orchestra
Co-founder and co-director of La Maestra
Claire Gibault began her career at the Opéra National de Lyon before becoming the first woman to conduct the Filarmonica della Scala and the musicians of the Berlin Philharmonic. She was music director of Musica per Roma from 2000 to 2002, and alongside her own flourishing career she spent a number of years as assistant to Claudio Abbado, collaborating with him at Milan’s La Scala, Vienna’s Staatsoper and London’s Royal Opera House Covent Garden. In 2004 she helped Abbado found the Orchestra Mozart di Bologna and continued her association with him until 2007.
Over the years Claire has conducted at some of the world’s most renowned opera houses, theatres and festivals, including London’s Royal Opera House, the Edinburgh International Festival, Glyndebourne Festival, Washington Opera, Théâtre du Châtelet, Opéra Comique and Théâtre des Célestins in Lyon. As guest conductor she has worked with the Halle Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale de la RAI, Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège, Orchestre National de Bordeaux, Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice, Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire, Orchestre de l’Opéra de Marseille, Våsterås Sinfonietta and Osaka Symphony Orchestra.
In 2014 she conducted the world premiere of Jean-Claude Petit’s opera Colomba at the Opéra de Marseille. That same year she was invited by Milan’s Orchestra Verdi to conduct Mahler’s Symphony n°10 alongside the world premiere of Fabio Vacchi’s Veronica Franco, before returning to the Orchestra Verdi to conduct the premiere of Fabio Vacchi’s Sull’acqua during Milan’s Universal Exhibition. More recently she conducted world premieres of works by Edith Canat de Chizy and Philippe Hersant at the Philharmonie de Paris, Silvia Colasanti’s Orfeo at the Théâtre de la Liberté in Toulon, as well as works by Chopin and Berlioz with Mexico City’s Orquesta Filarmónica UNAM.
In 2011, inspired by her experience with Claudio Abbado, Claire founded the Paris Mozart Orchestra, giving some thirty performances with her musicians each season and collaborating regularly with leading composers.
Increasingly in demand for conducting masterclasses, Claire has recently worked with the Royal Opera House Covent Garden’s National Opera Studio & Jette Parker Young Artists Programme. Her own series of conducting masterclasses has been running in Paris for the last five years.
Together with the Philharmonie de Paris, Claire founded and co-directs La Maestra International Competition and Academy for Women Conductors, which had its three first editions in 2020, 2022 and 2024.
