Maestro Arts signs Aliisa Neige Barrière
We are excited to welcome Finnish-French conductor Aliisa Neige Barrière to our roster for general management.
Barrière is one of the most exciting and distinctive conductors of the new generation, with an inventive approach to programming that emphasises the connections between repertoire through dramaturgy, bringing in voices that are rarely heard and commissioning new works.
Born in Paris to musical parents, Barrière originally trained as a violinist in Paris, New York and Oslo, before switching to conducting. She was mentored by Jorma Panula at the Panula Academy and studied at the Sibelius Academy under Sakari Oramo, graduating in 2023.
She has already collaborated with leading conductors and orchestras around the world. Last season she made her Paris Philharmonie debut, sharing a concert with Esa-Pekka Salonen, Ensemble Intercontemporain and Orchestre de Paris, as well as making her debut at Ojai Festival, conducting Mahler Chamber Orchestra. She also returned to the Mikkeli Festival with Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and served as Artist-in-Residence at Turku Music Festival.
In an interview with us, she remembers her first experience of conducting and explains why she fell in love with it: ‘Standing in front of a mass of people is a very physical experience. The sound enters your body – maybe even more so with an orchestra than a choir. It felt satisfying and beautiful – impossible to forget. To this day, I still love the physical experience of being with an orchestra. To some extent, you can have that experience listening to live concerts, although the conductor might have the best spot.’
She also describes her programming philosophy: ‘I’ve always been interested in taking dramaturgy into account in building a concert. I like the idea that in the process of building a concert programme you’re trying to convey a clear message or tell a story. That means thinking about how the pieces on the programme relate to one another and what story you are telling with them being presented in that particular order.’
