Aarhus Symphony Orchestra appoints new Chief Conductor.

Signing a three-year contract with 33-year-old Matvienko is a testament to the orchestra’s ambitions to remain a contemporary and socially involved organization in touch with its audience and the surrounding society. Both on and off the stage Dmitry Matvienko will represent and brand Aarhus Symphony Orchestra to a much higher degree than any of its previous Chief Conductors – a dual role integral to his new tenure.

On stage in the symphonic hall at Musikhuset Aarhus, Matvienko will champion a clear and artistically relevant profile for the orchestra, supported by an expanded and continued presence on the orchestra’s digital platforms.  

Offstage Matvienko will help shape the orchestra’s identity by working directly with the orchestra’s administration to keep political stakeholders, local business partners, national and international media involved and invested in the orchestra.

Matvienko won the Malko Conducting Competition in 2021 and has since been a part of the Malko Academy as teacher of a new generation of conductors. In Aarhus, Matvienko will be assigned a pivotal role in “Dirigentløftet”, a new 4-year national talent development programme for young conductors supported by the Ministry of Culture and led by Aarhus Symphony Orchestra. Matvienko is expected to act as both workshop instructor and part of the Board governing the direction and efforts of the project when it kicks off in 2024.

With a host of representational duties and a planned total of twenty-one concerts over the next three years as Chief Conductor for Aarhus Symphony Orchestra, seasons 2024 through 2027 will challenge and push Matvienko and the orchestra to new heights. Fortunately, the two seemed to have hit it off right from the beginning:

“In 2022, when Matvienko had his debut with the orchestra, the response from the musicians was so enthusiastic and unanimously positive that we immediately started looking for ways to continue working with Dmitry, and to be able to sign a rising superstar like Matvienko as Chief Conductor for Aarhus Symphony Orchestra is truly an exciting and rare opportunity – for both the orchestra and the city of Aarhus”, says Musical Director for Aarhus Symphony Orchestra, Jesper Nordin.

“We are already exploring ways for Dmitry to put his own, distinct mark on the coming seasons, as well as finding exciting new ways to involve him in the orchestra’s work and overall brand. He will be a definite asset to the cultural landscape in Aarhus, and we intend to involve him as much as possible in all our creative, political, and socio-cultural efforts. So far, things are looking quite spectacular”, concludes Nordin.

Dmitry Matvienko comments: “I am honoured to take up the position as Chief Conductor of the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra. Working with passionate musicians, with an orchestra rich in history and desiring artistic development, in a city proud of its copious cultural life, is an ideal scenario for any conductors. I can’t wait to continue this journey with Aarhus Symphony Orchestra and start working on the inspiring programs we have laid out for my first season as Chief Conductor. I hope the audience and the city of Aarhus will support and follow us, bringing meaningful experiences, exploring classic and less known repertoire. Please let us surprise you!”

The Cultural Mayor of Aarhus Mahad Yussuf adds: “I am excited that our brilliant symphony orchestra will be enhanced by world class conductor Dmitry Matvienko. Aarhus Symphony Orchestra is one of our cultural beacons, and I am convinced Matvienko will continue its successful development. Not least when it comes to raising the artistic bar even higher and reaching new audiences.”

Dmitry Matvienko is scheduled to perform his inaugural concert as Chief Conductor on September 12^th, 2024, in the symphonic hall at Musikhuset Aarhus in Aarhus, Denmark, but audiences can already experience Matvienko and the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra together in the spring of 2024, as they join forces to take on the of Gustav Mahler’s magnificent 5^th symphony and Richard Strauss’ Vier Letzte Lieder.

Biography | Dmitry Matvienko

Dmitry Matvienko is the winner of the 2021 edition of the prestigious Malko Competition for Young Conductors with First prize and Audience prize. Previously, he was awarded with the Critics and the Made in Italy prizes at the International Conducting Competition Guido Cantelli.

Matvienko received his first music lessons at the age of six before undergoing a formal training as a chorister and chorus master. He studied choral conducting at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, and he was a member of the Music Aeterna Choir at the Perm Opera and Ballet Theatre under the artistic direction of Teodor Currentzis from 2012 to 2013. In the following years he studied conducting at the Moscow Conservatory and attended master classes of Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Vladimir Jurowski, Teodor Currentzis and Vasily Petrenko.

In 2017, Dmitry Matvienko became a member of the conductor internship programme of the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia (chief conductor Vladimir Spivakov). He assisted and prepared several programmes for chief conductor Vladimir Jurowski, Vasily Petrenko and Michail Jurowski with Svetlanov Symphony Orchestra.

While conducting concerts with the Svetlanov Symphony, the National Philharmonic of Russia, the New Russia State Symphony Orchestra (chief conductor Yuri Bashmet) and the Moscow Chamber Orchestra “Musica Viva”, Dmitry conducted revivals of Prince Igor, Faust, Iolanta, La Traviata, The Tsar’s Bride, The Firebird, and Verdi’s Requiem at the National Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre of Belarus.

During the last seasons he conducted prestigious orchestras such as Orchestra del Teatro Carlo Felice Genova, Orchestre Philarmonique de Monte-Carlo, Orchestra Teatro Comunale Bologna, Orchestra Teatro Regio Torino, National Orchestra of Russia, Bergen Philharmonic, Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Sønderjyllands Symfoniorkester, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Helsingborg Symphony, the Orquesta de la Comunidad de Madrid, Orchestra del Teatro La Fenice of Venice, Aarhus Symfoniorkester, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Wiener Concert-Verein.

In 23/24 season he takes the podium of the Danish National Symphony, Orchestre Philharmonique de Montecarlo, Arctic Philharmonic, Helsingborg Symphony, Orchestre national de Lille, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale RAI Torino, Orquestra Gulbenkian, Orchestra Filarmonica Toscanini, Ulster Orchestra, Tonkünstler Wien, Aarhus Symphony. He makes his USA debut with Dallas Symphony and his Japan debut with Tokyo Symphony.

He worked as musical assistant of Vladimir Jurowski in a new production of The Nose (directed by Kirill Serebrennikov) and a new production of War and Peace (directed by Dimitri Tcherniakov) at the Bayerische Staatsoper and made his Italian operatic debut at the Teatro dell’ Opera in Rome, leading the Italian premiere of Warlikowski’s successful production of From the house of the Dead.

Biography | Aarhus Symphony Orchestra

Aarhus Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1935 and resides in the award-winning Symphonic Hall at Musikhuset Aarhus. The orchestra employs 66 full-time musicians, with the legendary Leif Segerstam acting as honorary conductor. Former Chief Conductors include Marc Soustrot, Giancarlo Andretta, James Loughran and Jorma Panula.

Aarhus Symphony Orchestra attracts a large and diverse audience through weekly subscription concerts, family concerts, chamber concerts and large-scale collaborative concerts with festivals and concert halls throughout Denmark. In addition, the Orchestra maintains a permanent cooperation with the Danish National Opera (Den Jyske Opera) and has recorded a substantial amount of both Danish contemporary works and standard classical repertoire on CD.

Deeply invested in the community surrounding it, the Orchestra performs social outreach concerts and arranges free school concerts, playing for more than 10.000 children annually. In 2018, the Orchestra added a new ambitious family project for pre-school children and their parents to their activity roster called Musikkens Børn (“the Children of Music”).

In 2021, the orchestra expanded its roster of activities with a series of new concert formats: KonTAKT (“Contact”), VelLyd (“Wellbeing through sound”) and Fyraftenskoncerter (“After hours concerts”). These are all formats that expand the regular concert experience by putting the audiences’ needs front and center, either offering direct contact and interaction with the orchestra, by providing a space for relaxation and contemplation, or simply by facilitating a social setting with music.