Born in 1982 in Montpellier, Victor Aviat studied oboe, piano, organ and composition in Paris, Geneva and Zurich. Before devoting himself to conducting in 2009, he was an oboist in the Karajan Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic, Lucerne Festival Orchestra and Zurich Opera House. He studied conducting with Professor Ulrich Windfuhr at Leipzig University of Music and Drama, and Professor Johannes Schläfli at Zurich University of the Arts, which subsequently awarded him the prix netzhdk. Whilst studying, he founded Orchestra Zurich, a project orchestra that draws together musicians from the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra, Zurich Opera House Orchestra and Zurich Chamber Orchestra, focused on performing repertoire from the First and Second Viennese Schools. During this time he worked closely with Claudio Abbado, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Emmanuel Krivine and Iván Fischer, who have encouraged his development as a conductor.

Victor Aviat launched his international career as a finalist of the Nestlé and Salzburg Festival Young Conductors Award in 2014. Since then, he has won praise for a series of debuts with major orchestras including the Orchestre Philharmonique de Luxembourg, Orchestre National de Montpellier and Konzerthausorchester Berlin. Last season, he attracted attention for his performances with the Orchestre National de Lille and Bern Symphony Orchestra, conducting repertoire from Mozart to Bernd Alois Zimmermann, and particularly for a production of Offenbach’s lost opera Le Roi Carotte. Working together with director Laurent Pelly and publishers Boosey & Hawkes, Victor Aviat led this restored opera at the Opéra de Lyon, from where it was broadcast on television and radio. The production was very well-received by European critics and was named Best Production of a Rediscovered Work at the International Opera Awards 2016.

Possessing a broad repertoire as well as experience of the different aspects of everyday orchestral life, Victor Aviat is currently Young Conductor in Association at the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. As well as regularly conducting the orchestra, he leads educational and community projects across South and South West England. In the 2016/17 season, he has been invited back to the Bern Symphony Orchestra and made his debut with the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra, the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra and the Budapest Festival Orchestra where he was formerly Principal Oboe and Assistant to Iván Fischer.