Widely considered to be one of the most versatile conductors of his generation, Arjan Tien is a welcome guest with many orchestras and has been invited to work with internationally established orchestras such as the WDR Funkhausorchester, the Philharmonie Westfalen (Germany), the Royal Bangkok Symphony, the Radio Philharmonic, the Netherlands Symphony and the Residentie Orchestra; the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra (Ankara), the Orchestre Symphonique Bienne, the Belgrade Philharmonic, the Kongelige Livgardens Musikkorps in Copenhagen, the Guards Band in Helsinki, the KZN, Johannesburg and Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestras and many others, as well as opera houses such as the Dutch Touring Opera, Opera South, Opera Spanga, the Wermland Opera Sweden. In November he will make his first appearance at the Kassel Festival in Germany with the Kyiv Symphony Orchestra.

 

Arjan Tien also enjoys working with young talents. He is professor of conducting at the Conservatoire of Amsterdam and at the Maastricht Conservatoire, and Artistic Supervisor and Chairman of the Jury of the SA Conductor’s Competition. He also conducted the Netherlands Student Orchestra and the Youth Orchestra of the Netherlands on several tours and will work with the APAC Festival Orchestra in Shanghai later this year. 

 

He was the artistic director and principal conductor of the Magogo Chamber Orchestra from 2006 to 2012 and from 2008 to 2016; he also was the principal conductor of the Atheneaum Chamber Orchestra at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague. 

In 2017 the Marine Band of the Royal Netherlands Navy has appointed maestro Tien as its principal conductor and artistic director. Since 2021 he also serves as principal conductor of the VU Orchestra in Amsterdam. 

 

Tien studied violin with Philipp Hirschhorn and viola with Ron Ephrat at the Utrecht Conservatory and obtained his diploma with distinction, was a member of the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, and made his solo debut with the Salzburg Chamber Soloists in São Paulo and Vitória, Brazil. He studied conducting with George Hurst in the United Kingdom, with Roberto Benzi in France and Switzerland, and with Jean Fournet in the Netherlands. 

 

Arjan Tien has frequently been recorded by labels such as Channel Classics Records, Decca Records, Universal Music, Sony BMG – Heita Records and Brilliant Classics in a wide range of repertoire. His recordings have received outstanding international acclaim.