Chloé van Soeterstède is attracting the attention of orchestras across the globe for her intuitive, sensitive, expressive music-making and her charming and positive presence on the podium. She is praised repeatedly for her attention to detail, her energy and enthusiasm, and efficiency in rehearsal, and the coming seasons bring many debuts across Europe and North America, as well as many re-invitations. In January 2022 she joined the Orchestre d’Auvergne’s artistic team as Artist-in-Residence, alongside their Associate Conductors Enrico Onofri and Christian Zacharias, and Chief Conductor Thomas Zehetmair.
In 21/22 van Soeterstède’s European debuts include the RTVE Symphony Orchestra (Madrid), Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León (Valladolid), Tenerife Symphony, Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège, Orchestre de Pau Pays de Béarn, Gävle Symphony (Sweden) and Bournemouth Symphony. She also returns to the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for a concert in their Cadogan Hall series, to the Orchestre National de Lorraine, the GiOrquestra in Spain and to the Orchestre d’Auvergne for concerts in Commentary and Paris. In North America she debuts with the Orlando Philharmonic and with the LA Philharmonic Orchestra, who have announced her as one of their Dudamel Fellows for the 21/22 season.
During the 2020/21 season, van Soeterstède returned to and made debuts with most of the major UK orchestras, including the BBC Symphony, BBC Scottish Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, City of Birmingham Symphony, London Chamber orchestras, BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the Royal Northern Sinfonia. Past engagements elsewhere have included many across her native France, with orchestras such as the Orchestre National de Lyon, Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, Orchestre National du Montpellier, Orchestre National de Lille amongst others.
Van Soeterstède conducts a wide range of repertoire from Mozart and Mendelssohn through to Prokofiev, Vaughan Williams and Tchaikovsky. In 2019 she conducted the world premiere of Benjamin Attahir’s Syrian Voices in France, and regularly programmes works by contemporary composers such as Jessie Montgomery, Roxanna Panufnik, Annamaria Kowalsky and Anna Meredith. At the 2019 Deutscher Diringentenpreis in Cologne she was awarded the Bärenreiter Prize for the best interpretation of a contemporary work, as well as Third Prize overall.
In 2012 she founded the Arch Sinfonia, a chamber orchestra based in London, which has been applauded for its vibrant and boundless energy, its wide range of repertoire and its initiatives to build bridges between artists and audience. Van Soeterstède also loves to work with young musicians, and as such works regularly with orchestras at eg Wells Cathedral and Chetham’s schools, and the conservatoires across the UK.
Van Soeterstède was born in 1988 in France. After studying viola in Paris and then at the Royal Academy of Music, she studied conducting at the Royal Northern College of Music (2015-2017) with Clark Rundell and Mark Heron where she was awarded the Kennedy scholarship and was also supported by the Derek Hill Foundation. In 2019, she was appointed the Taki Alsop Fellow 2019-21 by Marin Alsop.