Executive Director

After studying at the Institut d'études politiques de Paris and the University of Sussex in the UK, Aline Sam-Giao, a keen amateur oboist, chose to pursue a career in music.

Her professional career has taken her to the Royaumont Foundation and the baroque ensemble Le Poème Harmonique in the Paris region, then to Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes at the Berlioz Festival followed by 8 years as General Administrator of the Orchestre des Pays de Savoie. She moved to Lyon in 2017 to assume the role of General Manager of L'AO (L'Auditorium-Orchestre national de Lyon), a 2,100-seat hall and home to the 104-strong orchestra. L'AO joined the ECHO network of European concert halls in 2021 under her watch.

Attracted by the international context, six years later she decided to leave France to take up the post of Executive Director of the Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège and its Philharmonic Hall on 1 September 2023.

In addition, she has always been interested in cultural policy issues, and is involved in professional networks, including chairing Forces musicales, the employers' association for French orchestras and opera companies, and sitting on the first professional council of the Centre national de la Musique. 

Committed to gender equality issues, in 2021 she was a member of the pre-selection jury for the La Maestra international competition for female conductors. 

She has been a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres since 2015.