Famous Armenian conductor celebrates jubilee

YEREVAN, MARCH 14, ARMENPRESS: The Principal Conductor of theArmenian National State Opera and Ballet Theatre Karen Durgaryan celebrates his jubilee. On March 14 the artist turned 45. Armenpress reports that the friends and fans of the conductor today congratulate their beloved maestro.

Born inYerevan (Armenia), Karen Durgaryan has been Principal Conductor of theArmenian National State Opera and Ballet Theatre since 2001. He graduated from theYerevan State Conservatoire in1996 and studied under Professor Musin at theStPetersburg Conservatoire in1997. In1995 he was appointed an Associate Conductor of theArmenian State Philharmonic Orchestra and thefollowing year was Music Director of theBritten and ArmeniaInternational Music Festival inYerevan. Since 1997 he has been theMusic Director and Conductor of theYerevan State Chamber Music Theatre, overseeing productions of Britten’sGolden Vanity, Orff’sDieBernauerinand Adjemian’sTheDeath of Kikos. In1997 he performed to great public acclaim at theAldeburgh Festival (Great Britain).

Inthespring of 2008 Karen Durgaryan made his debut at theMikhailovsky Theatre inSt Petersburg, where he has conducted productions of Tchaikovsky’sEugene Onegin, Donizetti’sL’elisir d’amoreand anew production of Aram Khachaturian’s balletSpartacusinaddition to performances at theBolshoi Theatre inMoscow and at theLondon Coliseum. Between October2008 and February&nbs;2009 he conducted numerous performances and concerts with theMikhailovsky Theatre inItaly (Teatro LaFenice, Venice) and inJapan.

Karen Durgaryan regularly conducts theKazan State Opera and Ballet Theatre both inKazan and on tour. This year he will conduct performances inRotterdam (theNetherlands).

His international conducting activities have aspecial focus inItaly, where he has conducted at theTeatro Lirico inCagliari, theTeatro Regio inTurin, theTeatro Carlo Felice inGenoa (with therenowned cellist Enrico Dindo as soloist) and anew production of Tchaikovsky’sEugene Oneginat theTeatro Verdi inSassari inaddition to concerts with theLuigi Cherubini Orchestra (Artistic Director– Riccardo Muti) and theToradze Piano Studio’s soloists, including its internationally acclaimed leader Alexander Toradze at theRavenna Festival, as well as regular appearances with theOrchestra Sinfonica Siciliana inPalermo. InMay2012 he made his debut with therenowned Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto.

Since July 2010 Karen Durgaryan has collaborated with theMariinsky Theatre inSt Petersburg; he was invited by maestro Valery Gergiev to conduct anew production ofSpartacus, which he still regularly conducts both inSt Petersburg and on tour.

Since 2000 Karen Durgaryan has conducted major performances by Lebanese diva Fairuz, thegreatest singer of Arab world, at numerous festivals and concert halls around theworld. TheCDFairuz Live at theBeiteddine2000produced by Ziad Rahbani with EMI received tremendous international acclaim. In2008 he also appeared with Ziad Rahbani accompanied by an international symphony orchestra and chorus inSyria for five concerts as part of theArab Capital of Culture2008festival inDamascus.

In2008 Karen Durgaryan was awarded thetitle of Honored Artist of theRepublic of Armenia and 2010 saw him receive Armenia’s most prestigious award for thearts and culture.