He is a flautist born in Paris, France who started to play the flute when he was 8 years old. He took his studied at the Lyon Conservatory in France.
In 1993 he became Principal Flute for the Orchestra National du Capitole de Toulouse and three years later in 1996 was given the same position at the Paris National Opera.
In 1999 he was appointed Principal Flute for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra by Daniel Barenboim and he performed the premiere of Guillaume Connesson’s Flute Concerto commissioned by the CSO in 2009. After 10 years he left the orchestra on a one-year trial basis to play with the Los Angeles Philharmonic but returned after a few months to the CSO in 2010.
In August 2015 he became Principal Flute with the Berlin Phiharmonic where he shares the role with the flautist Emmanuel Pahud. He left the orchestra in 2021 for personal reasons.
He has been a soloist for conductors that include Christoph Eisenbach, Daniel Barenboim, Fabio Luisi and Pierre Boulez and has performed as a chamber musician with Julia Fischer, Pinchas Zukerman, Mitsuko Uchida and the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio.
Recordings he has performed on include his own Martinu-Prokofiev-Hindemith and Fantasy and him as a featured artist on Francis Poulenc: Integrale Musique de Chamber. Others he has performed on include The John Adams Edition, Anton Bruckner: Symphonien 1-9 and Gustav Mahler: Symphonien 1-10 by The Berlin Philharmonic, Debussy: Sonate Pour Flute etc by Philippe Bernold and others, John Harbison: Chamber Music by the Chicago Chamber Musicians, The soundtrack of the film Lincoln by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Techno Parade and Musique de Chambre by Guillaume Connesson, Eric Le Sage Plays Francis Poulenc by Eric Le Sage and Healing Music by Gary Schocker.
In the field of musical education he has worked as a teacher and coach and led many national and international master classes. He was a member of the Georges Cziffra and Juventus foundations and performed as a recitalist and in concerts with their Young European Soloists Ensemble.
Sources:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathieu_Dufour
- https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/chi-dufour-leaves-cso-20141001-column.html
- https://www.berliner-philharmoniker.de/en/orchestra/musician/mathieu-dufour/
- https://slippedisc.com/2021/12/exclusive-principal-flute-quits-the-berlin-philharmonic/
- https://www.yamaha.com/en/ipy/mathieu_dufour/
- https://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2010/01/flutist-mathieu-dufour-apologizes-to-la-phil-slams-suntimes-article.html
- https://www.allmusic.com/artist/mathieu-dufour-mn0001659531/credits
- https://www.discogs.com/artist/5047892-Mathieu-Dufour-2?type=Credits&filter_anv=0