After studying piano at the CNR in Grenoble, the CNSM in Paris and the University of the Arts in Berlin, Arnaud Arbet began his career as a vocal coach at the Atelier Lyrique of the Opéra National de Paris. Hired by Gerard Mortier at the Teatro Real in Madrid as a conductor and assistant conductor, he worked with conductors such as Pierre Boulez, Seiji Ozawa, Sir Simon Rattle, Semyon Bychkov, Ingo Metzmacher, Sylvain Cambreling, François-Xavier Roth and Alejo Pérez. He conducted his first concerts with the Madrid Symphony Orchestra.
Kapellmeister at the Chemnitz Opera for a year, Arnaud Arbet continued his assistances at the Salzburger Festspiele, the Ruhrtriennale, the operas of Milan, Rome and Amsterdam. From 2014 to 2018, he was engaged by La Scala in Milan as personal assistant to the composer György Kurtág for the creation of the latter’s opera Fin de partie.
In 2018, he conducted a concert at La Scala in Milan with the Bernasconi Ensemble, as part of the Milano Musica festival, and in 2021, he was invited back by this festival to conduct Kagel’s Mare Nostrum in FLUXO, a vast interdisciplinary project given at HangarBicocca.
Arnaud Arbet regularly conducts at the Cologne Opera: Rihm’s Die Eroberung von Mexico, Zimmermann’s Die Soldaten (co-conductor with François-Xavier Roth), Kagel’s Mare Nostrum, Salieri’s La Scuola de’ Gelosi and Bizet’s Carmen.
He conducts the world premiere of Philipp Maintz’s Clamitationes Colonienses with the Gürzenich Orchester at the Cologne Philharmonie.
In 2023, he conducts Offenbach’s Tales of Hoffmann at the Norrlandsoperan in Umeå, Sweden. This production will be broadcast on Swedish national television.
In 2022, he founded the ensemble « Le Seuil Musical » (the musical threshold), which aim is to play, explain and spread the music of the first half of the 20th century. The ensemble has performed in Paris, Berlin, Bamberg and Tokyo.
As a composer, his works are published by Vogelreiter Musikverlag in Munich.