Samuel Couffignal 

 

France

The young conductor Samuel Couffignal has studied music in France and Austria, while taking part in numerous masterclasses across Europe. After studying orchestral conducting, choir conducting and piano in France, he went on to perfect his skills at the Vienna Academy of Music and Art (MDW) in Simeon Pironkoff’s conducting class, with whom he obtained his Magister diploma in orchestral conducting with unanimous congratulations. He went on to study opera accompaniment with Andréas Henning at the same university.

By creating his own projects and demonstrating boundless curiosity, Samuel Couffignal has acquired a rich experience and a taste for all types of repertoire, whether instrumental or vocal, from all times. He was artistic director of the Meltin'Cordes orchestra, which he founded, for over 13 years. He has also collaborated with a number of soloists, including Éric Franceries, Thomas Ospital, Shin-Young Lee and Sélim Mazari. During his musical journey, the young conductor has benefited from the invaluable teaching of Marie Jacquot, Vimbayi Kaziboni, Philippe Auguin, Jean-Bernard Matter, Marin Alsop and Hossein Pishkar, among others.

Constantly seeking to promote the contemporary music repertoire, he has worked with composers such as Franck Vaudray, German Toro Perez, Mark André, Anthony Girard, Nava Hemyari. And the specialised ensembles Platypus as part of the Imago Dei festival in Krems, Phace, Webern Ensemble Wien. He was also one of the conductors selected to take part in the Ligeti100 project in Budapest in 2023 and was invited to conduct at the Vienna Summer Music Festival.

As an assistant, Samuel Couffignal has worked on several occasions with Marie Jacquot at the Wiener Symphoniker, Hossein Pishkar at the Royal Opera House in Copenhagen, and Vimbayi Kaziboni at the Klangforum in Vienna. He has also collaborated with the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra and has recently been invited to conduct concerts in Ukraine with the Chernivtsi Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra and the Luhansk Symphony Orchestra in Lviv.

In parallel with his activities as a musician, Samuel Couffignal is regularly invited to give talks on subjects relating to orchestral conducting and project management, particularly to companies and organisations wishing to build bridges between different professional worlds.

Samuel Couffignal has been musical director of the Akademisches Symphonie Orchester in Vienna since September 2023. He has been recognised as a Savarez musician since 2019.