Zahia Ziouani
Zahia Ziouani grew up in a family of music lovers, training her ear by listening to Beethoven, Mozart and the great operas. She first cultivated her love of music through classical guitar before taking up the viola, a key instrument in symphonic ensembles. The joy she experienced playing in an orchestra proved a revelation and led her to study conducting.
A committed student in the masterclasses of Sergiu Celibidache in Paris, she was only 16 when she was noticed by the maestro’s circle. Several months of intensive lessons followed, confirming her vocation.
She then made the bold decision to found her own ensemble: Divertimento, which since 1998 has brought ambitious and open programming to the Seine-Saint-Denis area. Today, she conducts leading ensembles in France and internationally (Germany, Hong Kong, Ukraine, Russia, Spain, Poland, Saudi Arabia).
She also served as Music Director of the Algerian National Orchestra from 2006 to 2013. International soloists such as Raphaël Pidoux, Tedi Papavrami, Xavier Phillips, Deborah Nemtanu, Anastasia Kobekina, Sylvia Carredu, Patrick Messina, Adam Laloum, Shani Diluka and Emmanuelle Bertrand have performed alongside her.
Zahia Ziouani brings her energy to the great repertoire, from Mozart to contemporary music, including Saint-Saëns—so important to her and a bridge to Algeria. Fascinated by the stage, she creates performances with actors, athletes and choreographers such as Mourad Merzouki, while opening the symphonic repertoire to other genres such as hip-hop and Mediterranean music.
In 2024, after carrying the Olympic Flame, she conducted Divertimento at the Stade de France during the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games. As part of the Paralympic Games and the launch of the Philharmonie de Paris 2024/25 season, Zahia Ziouani presented the multidisciplinary show Les Nouveaux Mondes, created by Divertimento and Compagnie Käfig. This production was acclaimed by critics and met with great public success.
She is also deeply committed to young musicians through the Divertimento Academy, founded in 2008, through the television program Prodiges on France 2, and as co-founder of the Démos project alongside the Philharmonie de Paris.
An inspiring figure, Zahia Ziouani often speaks about her unconventional path—marked by social and cultural prejudice, her roots in Seine-Saint-Denis and her ambition to become a conductor—during conferences and in her autobiography La cheffe d’orchestre.
Her story was brought to the screen in 2023 by Marie‑Castille Mention‑Schaar in the critically acclaimed film Divertimento. She is also the focus of the Canal+ documentary Zahia Ziouani, One Step Ahead.
Photo: @Patrick Fouque