Xavier de Maistre is one of today’s leading harpists and a profoundly creative musician. As a fierce champion of his instrument, he has broadened the harp repertoire, commissioning new work from composers. He also creates transcriptions of important instrumental repertoire.

Born in Toulon, he studied the harp with Vassilia Briano at his local conservatoire, before perfecting his technique with Catherine Michel and Jacqueline Borot in Paris. He also studied in Sciences-Po Paris and then at the London School of Economics. In 1998 he was awarded First Prize (and two interpretation prizes) at the prestigious USA International Harp Competition (Bloomington) and became the same year the first French musician to be admitted at the Wiener Philharmoniker.

This musical vision has led him to work with conductors including Sir André Previn, Sir Simon Rattle, Riccardo Muti, Daniele Gatti, among others. He has been invited by orchestras such as Chicago, Montreal, Los Angeles, London, St Petersburg, or Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. As a soloist he has been a guest at many top festivals, including Rheingau, Salzburger Festspielen, Wiener Festwochen, Verbier, Budapest Spring, Würzburg Mozartfest and Mostly Mozart in New York.

Parallel to his orchestral concerts, Xavier de Maistre is passionate about chamber music and regularly puts together original recital projects. Since summer 2020 he has been in residence at the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival..

During the 2022-23 season, Xavier de Maistre goes on tour with Orchestre National de France in Germany and in Austria under the direction of Cristian Măcelaru to play Reinhold Glière's famous harp concerto for the release of his new album.

He has taught at Musikhochschule in Hamburg since 2001. He plays on a Lyon & Healy instrument.