Arie van Beek was born in Rotterdam. He studied percussion instruments and workes first as a percussionist at the Radio orchestras of the Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS). He turned to conducting. His teachers were Edo de Waart and David Porcelijn.

Born in Rotterdam, Arie van Beek worked as a percussionnist before he turned to conducting. From 1994 to 2010 he was the chief conductor of the Orchestre National d'Auvergne, from 2011 to 2022 chief conductor of the Orchestre de Picardie and from 2013 to 2022 chief conductor of the Orchestre de Chambre de Genève. He also was, from the age of 19 and during 48 years, conductor, teacher and concert programmer at Codarts, the Music Conservatory in Rotterdam.

Arie van Beek is permanent conductor of the Doelen Ensemble in Rotterdam and appears regularly as a guest conductor in France with orchestras such as the Orchestre National d’Auvergne, the Orchestre Poitou-Charentes, the Orchestre National de Cannes, the Orchestre Victor Hugo Franche-Comté, the Orchestre Colonne, the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio-France, the Orchestre National de Lyon, the Orchestre Lamoureux, the Orchestre des Champs-Elysées, the Orchestre Lyrique Régional d’Avignon-Provence, the Orchestre des Pays de Savoie, the Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire, the Orchestre National de Bretagne and the Orchestre des Lauréats du CNSMD de Paris and in Europe with orchestras such as the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, the Nieuw Ensemble in Amsterdam, the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra, the Iena Philharmonic Orchestra, the Bohuslav Martinú Philharmonic Orchestra in Zlin, the Sinfonia Varsovia, the Orchestra of the Warsaw Opera, the City Orchestra of Joensuu.

He has a wide concert repertory, starting from baroque time up to the XXIst century. He has a special dedication to music composed today and has premiered works by Jean-Pascal Beintus, Guillaume Connesson, Benjamin Ellin, Suzanne Giraud, Hans Koolmees, Dominique Lemaître, Michael Levinas, Robin de Raaff, Kaija Saariaho, Aulis Sallinen, André Serre-Milan, Klaas de Vries, Peter Jan Wagemans, among others.

In 2019/20 he conducted the world premiere of the first opera by Guillaume Connesson, Les bains macabres, at the Théâtre impérial in Compiègne and at the Théâtre de l'Athénée Louis Jouvet in Paris, with the ensemble Les Frivolités Parisiennes.

In addition to his many concert engagements, he will conduct a new production of Offenbach's Orphée aux Enfers at the Lausanne Opera in 2023/24.

Arie van Beek is Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of the French Republic. He has also been awarded the Médaille of the City of Clermont-Ferrand as well as the Elly Ameling-Prize in regognition for his contribution to the artistic accomplishment of the City of Rotterdam. In March 2014 he has been awarded Erasmus Prize of the city of Rotterdam.

November 2023

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