Matthias Gallien first completed his violin studies with Lothar Friedrich at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music in his home town. He studied viola with Felix Schwarz and Alfred Lipka in Berlin and with Erich Krüger and Ditte Leser in Weimar. He was a scholarship holder of the Orchestra Academy of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden and held a "substitute" position at the Berliner Sinfonie-Orchester, today's Konzerthausorchester from 1997.

From 1999 to 2001 Matthias Gallien was a member of the Mecklenburg State Philharmonic Orchestra in Schwerin as Assistant Principal of the first violins, then principal violist of the Anhalt Philharmonic Orchestra in Dessau and from 2005 a member of the Staatkapelle Halle in the same position.

That was a concert in 1986, when the Konzerthausorchester was still called the Berlin Symphony Orchestra. I grew up with the sound of the orchestra and it was already clear to me that I wanted to become an orchestral musician. I was 12 or 13 and sat with my parents in the 1st tier, 1st row of our subscription seats, which was called ‘Anrecht’ back then. Tchaikovsky's ‘Pathétique’ was on the programme, conducted by Claus Peter Flor. The first forte entry in the first movement of this concert was a highly intense moment that I still remember extremely vividly to this day! 

When I was a child, I used to listen to a rehearsal recording of the Staatskapelle Dresden with Rudolf Kempe. There was only room for  three movements of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony on the record - plus the conductor's comments. For me, it was extremely exciting to hear what was communicated during the rehearsals about this work. To this day, it is one of my favourite symphonies.

I have two - the Gendarmenmarkt with the Konzerthaus and the ‘Alte Försterei’ stadium in Köpenick. I went to my first football match there in 1976 when I was not even 4 years old.