Bassem Akiki is a Lebanese–Polish conductor and composer frequently invited to conduct at theatres, festivals and concert halls around the world. Recent collaborations include the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam, La Monnaie/De Munt in Brussels, Philharmonie de Paris, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Teatr Wielki - Polish National Opera, and Sinfonia Varsovia.

Informed by his own work as a composer, Akiki is a specialist in conducting contemporary repertoire. He made his professional conducting debut aged 24 with Verdi’s La Traviata at Wrocław Opera, where he was a full-time conductor until 2013. Since then, he has built an extensive repertoire, ranging from Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Puccini’s Turandot to Prokofiev’s The Fiery Angel, Adès’s Powder Her Face, and Dusapin’s To Be Sung.He has conducted the world premieres of many new works. Recent projects include Alexander Raskatov’s Animal Farm at the Dutch National Opera, which won the OPER! 2023 Award as World Premiere of the Year. He regularly works at La Monnaie/De Munt, where he has conducted premieres of Björk’s Medúlla, Orfeo and Majnun by Moneim Adwan, Dick van der Harst and Howard Moody (also at Festival d’Aix-en-Provence),Mark Grey’s Frankenstein, and most recently Philippe Boesman’s opera On purge bébé. Other world premieres include Nicholas Lens’s and J. M. Coetzee’s Slow Man at Malta Festival Poznań, Zad Moultaka’s Hémon, and Simon Steen-Andersen’s Don Giovanni’s Inferno at Opéra National du Rhin.

Akiki has recently made his debuts with Warsaw Philharmonic and Netherlands Philharmonic orchestras. He is currently writing his first opera for La Monnaie/De Munt. Forthcoming highlights include the Rotterdam Philharmonic, Opéra de Lyon, Dutch National Opera, Opéra National du Rhin, Royal Danish Opera, Finnish National Opera, and Théâtre du Châtelet.

Until 2020, Akiki held the position of artistic director of the Silesian Opera in Bytom and the NFM New Year Festival in Wrocław. Aside from conducting, Akiki is a scholar in the music of East and West and their mutual influences, giving lectures on the subject. His interest in astronomy and prime numbers has influenced his recent compositions. He has led masterclasses in institutions such as Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel of Waterloo, Opera Academy of La Monnaie, and Swarthmore College, Philadelphia, where he also appeared in Barbara Wysockaand Michał Zadara’s Chopin Without Piano.