Matan Gilitchensky, born in Israel, received his first viola lessons at the age of 15 with Lilach Levanon at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music (Tel Aviv). He graduated there with a Bachelor of Music degree in 2011, and continued his studies at the Berlin University of the Arts with Hartmut Rohde, graduating with a Solo Master's degree.
He was a scholarship recipient of the America-Israel Cultural Foundation as well as the Stiftung Freunde Junger Musiker Berlin and is - as a soloist and as a member of chamber music ensembles - a multiple prize winner of international competitions in Germany, Israel, Spain, Italy, Czech Republic and Switzerland, among others.
He has participated in master classes given by Nobuko Imai, Kim Kashkashian, Tabea Zimmermann and Hariolf Schlichtig, and has performed at major festivals such as the Jerusalem Chamber Music Festival, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, the Verbier Festival Academy and the Open Chamber Music in Prussia Cove, where he has performed with Guy Braunstein, Frans Helmerson, Alban Gerhardt, Wolfram Christ, Mihaela Martin and Hillel Zori, among others.
Matan Gilitchensky has been deputy principal violist of the Dresden Philharmonic since 2015 (he was principal violist in the 2016/17 season). He is also a lecturer at the Berlin University of the Arts, where he teaches orchestral studies and serves as assistant to Hartmut Rohde.