Arie van Beel
was born in Rotterdam. He studied percussion instruments and worked 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.

From 1994 through 2010 Arie van Beek was the chief conductor in residence of the Orchestre d'auvergne in France. Since 2011 he is artistic and musical director of the Orchestre de Picardie, France and since september 2013 artistic and musical director of the Orchestre de Chambre de Genève, Switzerland He is permanent conductor of the Doelen Ensemble in Rotterdam, Holland.

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 Connesseon, Suzanne Giraud, Hans Koolmees, Dominique Lemaitre, Kaija Saahario, Aulis Sallinen, André Serre-Milan, Klaas de Vries, Peter-Jan Wagemans, Michael Levinas, Robin de Raaff, Benjamin Ellin, Bernard Cavanna and Pascal Zavaro, among others.

Arie van Beek is Chevalier 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.

In April 2017 he obtained there grade of Officer in the order of the « Arts et Lettres »

Orchestre de Picardie
was created in 1984 and evolved over the years to become a Mannheim symphony orchestra of 37 permanent musicians. It is resident in Amiens.

Together with prominent guest artists and its artistic director and permanent conductor Arie van Beek, Orchestre de Picardie is at the heart of the regional musical life.

Traditionally, Orchestre de Picardie presents a great variety of repertoires while giving pride of place to contemporary music and commissions. Pascal Zavaro is composer in residency from 2016 to 2017 In its general interest role supported by both state and regional government Orchestre de Picradie is committed to presenting some 100 concerts a year and various innovative outreach activities (Music on Campus, 4 days with the Orchestra, educational concerts, internships and orchestra academies). This leads to a closer relationship with local audiences.

In this environment, since 1998, Orchestre de Picardie has activated partnerships with some 175 local schools.

It is also involved in the training of young musicians studying at local conservatoires such as the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional d’Amiens Métropole and music students from the Ecole Supérieure Musique et Danse Nord de France (Lille).

In the context of the new French administrative map and so as to support equal access to classical music for the population of the new Hauts-de-France region to which it now belongs, Orchestre de Picardie has signed a cooperation agreement with Orchestre National de Lille, the Ministère de la Culture and the Région Hauts-de-France.

Another singularity of Orchestre de Picardie is that it doesn’t have a dedicated concert hall so it relies on a strong relationship with local partners and venues for some 80 concerts in the Hauts-de-France region.

Since 2004 and the reopening of the opera house, a strong partnership exists between Orchestre de Picardie and Opéra de Lille. In October 2016, it took part in a very successful new production of Rossini’s La Cenerentola.

Orchestre de Picardie is also a regular guest of Festival des Forêts, Festival de Saint-Riquier Baie de Somme, Flâneries Musicales de Reims, Folle Journée de Nantes, Festival de Laon, Lille piano(s) Festival…

It has also been invited to present concerts in the 2016-2017 season of Saint-Louis des Invalides, La Philharmonie de Paris and Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris.

Over the years, Orchestre de Picardie has produced many award-winning CD recordings.

Widely acknowledged for its pioneering approach, Orchestre de Picardie has initiated European networks and sustainable partnerships which contribute to its distinctive identity. It implements interdisciplinary cooperations and develops creative art forms involving digital technologies which, in turn, lead to audience involvement and new concert formats.

From 2011 to 2015, ACT - A Common Territory was a network of 13 partners, located on both sides of the Channel with Orchestre de Picardie as Lead Partner. The ACT network came under the European cross-border cooperation programme INTERREG IVA France (Channel) – England, cofinanced by the ERDF. www.act-acommonterritory.eu

What’s more, as from 2003, Orchestre de Picardie has been the creator and Lead Partner of ONE® - an Orchestra Network for Europe, a unique European network of symphony orchestras. After 4 grants from the European Commission within the framework of the EU Culture programme, ONE® has received the support of the EU under the Creative Europe programme for a large-scale cooperation project labelled ONE® is more which from 2015 to 2019 involves partners from 8 countries: 7 symphony orchestras and a university for the creative arts.