| Birth Date: | 28 December 1973 |
| Birth Place: | Paris, France |
| Instrument: | Flute |
| Genre: | Classical |
| Past Member Of: | Chicago Symphony Los Angeles Philharmonic Berlin Philharmonic |
Mathieu Dufour (born 28 December 1973 in Paris) is a French classical flutist. He is a former principal flutist of the Berlin Philharmonic.
Dufour began playing the flute at the age of 8. He studied under Madeleine Chassang and Maxence Larrieu at the Lyon Conservatory.[1]
Dufour was appointed principal flute of the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse in 1993, and then held the same position with the Paris Opera in 1996.[2] He plays on a Yamaha YFL-997 flute.[3]
Dufour was appointed principal flute of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1999 by Daniel Barenboim.[4] He briefly left in September 2009 to play principal flute with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, though later stated he had joined them on a one-year trial basis and was able to hold positions with both orchestras.[5] He returned to Chicago in January 2010.[6] He joined the Berlin Philharmonic as principal flute in August 2015, replacing the retiring Andreas Blau and sharing the role with Emmanuel Pahud.[7] He left the orchestra in December 2021 at his own request for personal reasons,[8] and was succeeded in May 2022 by Sébastian Jacot.[9]