Barbara Dragan

Barbara Dragan is oficially extended as Young Associate Conductor at Orchestre National de France for the season 2023/24. With ONF she recorded music by Mathieu Lamboley and Olivier Daviaud, and is assisting Cristian Măcelaru, Daniele Gatti, François-Xavier Roth, Andrés Orozco-Estrada and Trevor Pinnock among others.

Upcoming highlights include:

rehearsals with the ONF for the film Napoléon, debut with the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris (2. Sept) and participation in the 58th edition of the Besançon International Competition for Young Conductors in September 2023.

Barbara is the recipient of a Claussen-Simon Stiftung scholarship in 2023/24.

She is a graduate of the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hamburg (Konzertexamen), Universität der Künste in Berlin (Masters). She took part as conducting fellow in Cabrillo New Music Festival in Santa Cruz and Ravinia Festival in Chicago. In the season 2021/22 she was named Conducting Fellow at the Dallas Opera Hart Institute.  Dragan is an award recipient of the Taki Alsop Conducting Fellowship (TACF) and she took part in numerous finals of international conducting competitions such as the Mahler Competition in Barbareg, the Princess Astrid Conducting Competition in Trondheim, the Svetlanov Conducting Competition in Monaco, or German Conductors’ Award in Cologne.

She was born into a Polish family of scientists. She started playing the violin at the age of five. Whilst studying the violin and the oboe, she passed her final exams in advanced mathematics and physics.

She conducted several professional orchestras such as Orchestre National de France, NOSPR Katowice, Kammerakademie Potsdam, Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Sinfonietta, WDR Sinfonieorchester, Monte Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra, Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, Gürzenich-Orchester Köln,  Bochumer Symphoniker, Magdeburgische Philharmonie, Sinfonietta Cracovia, Festival Orchestra Wien, Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra, Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester Frankfurt, Beethoven’s Academy Orchestra, Brandenburger Symphoniker, Zagreb Chamber Orchestra and Symphoniker Hamburg.