Biography
Matthieu Arama, born in 1979, began the violin at the age of six and made his debut as a soloist “Salle Gaveau “in Paris at the age of eleven. Few years later he won the First Prize and the Alumni’s Special Award from Paris Conservatory (CNSM) where he studied with Sylvie Gazeau (1996-2001). He then got the honor to be accepted in Igor Oistrakh’s class in Brussels’ Royal Conservatory (2001-2006) where he got his Master Diploma with the Highest Distinction (with the grade of 20/20 in violin)
Matthieu Arama won the Third Grand Prize-Winner from the Montreal International Violin Competition (2003), a Bronze Medal from the London International Violin Competition (Benjamin Britten-2004) . He is also Fourth Prize from the Shlomo Mintz Violin Competition in Sion and laureate of the Yamaha Music Foundation Europe and Feydeau de Brou St Paul Scholarships.
Matthieu has given solo performances in some of the world’s greatest Concert Halls: Barbican in London, la Salle Wilfried Pelletier de la Place des Arts in Montréal, the Great Hall from Moscow Conservatory, the War Memorial Opera in San Francisco, la Salle Gaveau and la Salle Cortot in Paris, the Auditorio di Galicia, the Opera House and the Auditorium Dutilleux in Bordeaux, The City Hall in Cap Town with Orchestras such as the London Symphony , the Royal Philharmonic, the Montreal Symphony, the Ontario Philharmonic, The San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, The Cap Town Philharmonic The Orchesta Real de Galicia or the Orchestre National de Bordeaux-Aquitaine among others. He played under the lead of conductors including Sir Andrew Davis, Maestro Paul Daniel, Maestro Asher Fish, Maestro Sascha Goetzel, Maestro Roberto Benzi, Maestro Shlomo Mintz, Maestro Pierre Bleuse, Maestro Karoui, Maestro Sirenko, Maestro Kwame Ryan…In addition, he has given recitals throughout the world. Many of his performances have been broadcasted by Radio Classique, France Musique, France Inter, Radio Canada, CBC, la Radio Suisse Romande or Fox News (Sarasota Fl).
His first Album, Violin Showcase (including works from Paganini, Sarasate, Wieniawsky…) released in October 2013 by Brilliant Classics received some great reviews from critics (4stars Fono Forum/Germany, Klassieke Zaken/Holland, Fanfare Magazine/USA). In 2016 he recorded in concert some of the most beautiful violin solos from the Russian Ballet repertoire (Raymonda, Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty...) for the Label Actes Sud/Harmonia Mundi. Under the lead of Maestro Paul Daniel with the Orchestre de l'Opéra National de Bordeaux, his violin playing has been described as "Superb" (ResMusica).
Since 2009 he is the First Concertmaster of the Orchestre National de l'Opera de Bordeaux, the second largest Opera House in France, playing operas, ballets and symphony concerts. Since 2010 he also leads and conducts from the violin the string orchestra of the Opera National de Bordeaux playing string serenades, pieces and concerti. He has been invited to play as a concermaster by many leading orchestras in France but also all over the world, including the San Francisco Ballet orchestra (with which he also played as a soloist in 2015 Tchaïkovsky "Souvenir d'un lieu cher" ), the Orchestra filarmonica della Scala, the Orchestra Victoria in Melbourne.
He is also Professor at the Pôle d’Enseignement Supérieur de Bordeaux-Aquitaine (Bordeaux University) and has been coach of the first violin section of the Orchestre Français des Jeunes under the lead of Maestro Russel Davies and Kwame Ryan in 2011-2012.
Matthieu Arama is now playing on the Guarnerius “Duc de Crémone” , kindly loaned by the Association Zilber-Rampal.