Among highlights of the 2023/24 season, Victorien Vanoosten led a new production of Bizet's Pêcheurs de perles at the Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse and conducted the same opera at Berlin's Staatsoper Unter den Linden. The season also sees him at the helm of the Gewandhaus Orchestra conducting Peer Gynt at Oper Leipzig, a work that also brings him to the Teatro alla Scala in the 2024/25 season. He also conducts two productions of Massenet's Thaïs and had his debut at Oper Frankfurt with Flotow's Martha, with an invitation to return in the 2024/25 season. Recent season highlights include Mr. Vanoosten‘s debut at the Vienna Musikverein, marking his return to the Tonkünstler orchestra, returns to Polish National Radio Symphony and Lithuanian National Symphony with Strauss’ Death and Transfiguration and the Alpine Symphony, Bruckner’s Symphony no. 8, Debussy’s Nocturnes and Daphnis et Chloe by Ravel, among others, a new production of Carmen at Opéra de Marseille and the debut at the helm of the Orchestre Métropolitain of Montreal, with Emmanuel Pahud as soloist. Mr. Vanoosten also led concerts of the Orchestre national de l’Île-de-France at Philharmonie de Paris. He conducted Le Comte Ory and Peer Gynt at Zurich Opera, a new production of Gounod’s Reine de Saba at Opéra de Marseille, as well as a new production of La Traviata in St. Etienne.

Mr Vanoosten was assistant conductor to Daniel Barenboim at Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin in 2018 and 2019. At Berlin Staatsoper, Mr. Vanoosten conducted 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. He led critically acclaimed performances of French repertoire in particular, including Manon, Hamlet, Hérodiade and Messager’s Madame Chrysanthème, as well as ballet performances of Sacre du Printemps – conducted from memory. His groundbreaking 2021 video production of Sacre du printemps, together with Swiss artists collective Supermafia, earned him worldwide attention and became a viral YouTube phenomenon in classical music.

An accomplished symphonic conductor, Victorien Vanoosten was chosen to lead programmes 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 Staatskapelle Berlin in outreach concerts. Outstanding soloists who have marked his career include Olga Peretyatko, Stéphanie d’Oustrac, Karine Deshayes, Sabine Devieilhe, Marianne Crebassa, Rolando Villazón, and Michael Volle.

As a pianist, Victorien Vanoosten recently performed Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G, in play/conduct mode. Victorien Vanoosten released his first piano solo CD in 2015, 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 programme on French national television, from 2010 to 2015, and has repeatedly appeared on Radio France and Radio Classique programmes. From 2014 to 2024 he was the principal conductor of DEMOS, a French youth orchestra project founded by Philharmonie de Paris.

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. The Republic of France recognised his significant contribution to the arts by creating him a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2023.