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.