Barbara Dragan was a Young Associate Conductor at the Orchestre National de France in Paris, where she prepared and recorded the entire Opening Ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games with the Orchestre de Paris and Orchestre National de France, a project awarded a Grammy.
Her 2025/26 season includes debuts with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, DSO Berlin, and the Malmö Symphony Orchestra, as well as first appearances in Bucharest, Zagreb, Tbilisi, Nancy, Tours, and Vienna. She returns to the RTVE Symphony Orchestra Madrid, Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, the National Orchestra of Chile, and the Beethoven Orchester Bonn, among others.
She was previously a conducting fellow at the Cabrillo and Ravinia Festivals, as well as at the Dallas Opera Hart Institute. She has participated in major international competitions including the Mahler Competition, Princess Astrid Competition, Svetlanov Competition, and the Deutsche Dirigentenpreis.
Her artistry has been shaped by mentors such as Sir Roger Norrington, Kazuki Yamada, Trevor Pinnock, and Marin Alsop. She holds degrees from the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg and the Universität der Künste Berlin.
Born into a Polish scientific family, she began playing the violin at the age of five and also excelled in mathematics and physics. She is currently a fellow of the Deutsche Bank Stiftung’s Akademie Musiktheater Heute. She also performs on baroque violin and draws inspiration from Jerzy Grotowski’s concept of “poor theatre”.