A New Concertmaster At Opera Australia

French violinist Matthieu Arama has been appointed Concertmaster of the Opera Australia Orchestra. His term will begin in August 2024. The worldwide search identified Mr Arama who is currently Concertmaster of the orchestra of the Opéra National de Bordeaux, a position he has occupied since 2009. He is also a Professor at the Pôle d’Enseignement Supérieur de Bordeaux-Aquitaine (Bordeaux University). He plays the “Duc de Crémone” violin by Pietro Guarneri, kindly loaned by a generous
benefactor.

Mr Arama will be responsible for leading the OAO its extensive annual program of more than 250 performances of opera, ballet, music theatre and recitals for OA and The Australian Ballet. Mr Arama performed as Guest Concertmaster during the recent season of La Traviata for OA and of Swan Lake for The Australian Ballet. He also performed a solo recital which included excerpts from opera, ballet and chamber music repertoire.

Matthieu Arama began playing the violin at age six and made his debut as a soloist at Paris’ Salle Gaveau at age eleven. After winning awards as a student at the Paris Conservatory (CNSM), he was a accepted into Igor Oistrakh’s class at  the Brussels Royal Conservatory, where he received his Master’s Diploma with High Distinction.

Mentored and inspired by Oistrakh, Matthieu has performed as a soloist in some of the world’s greatest concert halls including London’s Barbican and Paris’ Salle Cortot, in Montréal and the Moscow Conservatory and opera houses in San Francisco, Bordeaux and Cape Town. Orchestras with which he has performed include the London Symphony, the Royal Philharmonic, the Montréal Symphony, the Ontario Philharmonic, the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, the Cape Town Philharmonic and the Lithuanian Symphony Orchestra.

Matthieu has performed as a soloist with renowned conductors, including Sir Andrew Davis, Paul Daniel, Asher Fisch and Shlomo Mintz. Many of his performances have been broadcast by Radio Canada, CBC, Radio Classique, France Musique, France Inter and la Radio Suisse Romande. He has an impressive discography and has won several prizes including the Third Grand Prize in the Montréal International Violin Competition and the Bronze Medal in the London International Violin Competition (Benjamin Britten). He is also a laureate of the Yamaha Music Foundation Europe and Feydeau de Brou St Paul Scholarships given to the best string player of Paris Conservatory.