Conductor and pianist Victorien Vanoosten currently serves as assistant conductor to music director Daniel Barenboim at Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin. He was appointed music director of the Orchestre de Neuchâtel in Switzerland as of 2019. He is also the principal conductor of DEMOS, a French social project and equivalent ensemble to El Sistema founded by Philharmonie de Paris.
At Berlin Staatsoper, Mr. Vanoosten lead performances of Cherubini's Médée featuring Sonya Yoncheva in the title role, and Bizet's Pêcheurs de perles, a Wim Wenders production. In 2014, he had been appointed assistant conductor of the Marseille Opera and became associate of music director Lawrence Foster. At the Opéra National de Paris, Mr. Vanoosten has conducted a reduced Ring des Nibelungen by Richard Wagner. He has lead critically acclaimed performances of French repertoire in particular, including Manon, Hamlet, Hérodiade and André Messager's Madame Chrysanthème, as well as ballet performances of Sacre du Printemps - conducted from memory - and Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune, among others.
An accomplished symphonic conductor, Victorien Vanoosten was chosen to lead programs for the inaugural weekend of Philharmonie de Paris, when he conducted a concert also featuring Lang Lang. He has conducted the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris and will lead the Staatskapelle Berlin in outreach concerts. Outstanding soloists who have already marked his career include Olga Peretyatko, Stéphanie d'Oustrac, Karine Deshayes, Sabine Devieilhe, Marianne Crebassa, Rolando Villazón, and Michael Volle. He also stepped in, at very short notice, with the Orchestre philharmonique de Marseille in successful performances of Tchaikovsky's Sixth Symphony as well as contemporary music including European premières.
As a pianist, Victorien Vanoosten recently performed Ravel's Piano Concerto in G, in play/conduct mode. In 2015, Victorien Vanoosten released his first piano solo CD featuring his own transriptions of orchestral works by Debussy, Stravinsky, Duruflé, Saint-Saëns and Ravel. He was artistic editor of "La boîte à musique," a classical music program on French national television, from 2010 to 2015, and has repeatedly appeared on Radio France and Radio Classique programs.
Victorien Vanoosten, who grew up in Lille, studied piano with Michel Béroff at the Paris Conservatory as well as conducting in Paris and Helsinki with Esa-Pekka-Salonen, Alain Altinoglu, Leif Segerstam, David Zinman, Peter Eötvös, and Pierre Boulez. In 2016 he won the ADAMI Conducting Competition. Mr. Vanoosten also received fellowships from Société Génerale Mécénat Musical and Fondation Banque Populaire, among others.
