Harutyun Arzumanyan

Harutyun Arzumanyan is a musician. He graduated Yerevan State Conservatory as a violinist and conductor.

Arzumanyan founded the Armenian Chamber Orchestra and has frequently conducted at the National Opera and Ballet Theatre of Armenia.

He was the first prizewinner of the 1999 National Competition for conductors and was 3rd Prizewinner of the 8th Fitelberg International Competition for Conductors in Katowice, Poland.

In 2005 Arzumanyan won the William L. Montague, Jr. Second Prize on Vakhtang Jordania International Conducting Competition.

The competition was held in Kharkov, Ukraine between August 29 and September 4 2005 and there were featured 29 competitors from 16 countries around the world.

That year the jury did not award a Jordania Grand Prize, but did decide on two William L. Montague, Jr. Second Prizes. The other William L. Montague, Jr. Prize won Matteo Pagliari of Italy. As for 2005 Pagliari held assistant conductor positions to both Riccardo Frizza and Roberto Abbado. He has made many guest appearances with opera companies and orchestras throughout Italy and the United States and held a conducting degree from the Conservatorio Arrigo Boito in Parma, Italy.

As William L. Montague, Jr. Second Prizewinners, Arzumanyan and Pagliari received concert engagements during the 2006-2007 concert season with orchestras in Ukraine, the U.S., and other countries.

Third Prize was awarded to Christopher Chen of the United States. Chen, a graduate of the Peabody Conservatory, as for 2005 was an Assistant Conductor of the Baltimore Opera. A frequent guest conductor in Europe, the United Kingdom, Australia and Finland, Chen was selected as one of eight conductors in the American Symphony Orchestra League's 2005 National Conductor preview. As the Third Prizewinner Chen received a concert engagement during the 2006-2007 concert season with an orchestra in Ukraine.

The Vakhtang Jordania International Conducting Competition is very popular and prestigious contest. Along with main Prizes there were numerous Special awards as well.

The Orchestra Favorite prize was awarded to Boguslav Kobierski of Poland, who, as for 2005, was the conductor of the Etela-Karjala Sinfonietta of Finland.

The Audience Favorite prize and a special distinction certificate was awarded to Shigekazu Yonezaki of Japan, who, as for 2005, was a regular guest conductor of many orchestras in his country, including the New Japan Philharmonic.

Jennifer Bailey of Australia was also a Third Round participant and special distinction certificate awardee. As for 2005 she was the Conductor and Director of the Orchestra at St. Mary Magdalen in Oxford, England.

Other participants of the 2005 Vakhtang Jordania International Conducting Competition included: Kerim S. Anwar, a citizen of Canada who lives in the Czech Republic, Rihards Buks of Latvia, Shawn Eugene Burke-Storer of the United States, Timothy Dixon of the United States, Lawrence Golan of the United States, Yasuhiko Ishige of Japan, Vladimir Kern of Russia, Sergey Kiss of Russia, Maksim Kuzin of Ukraine, Sang-Hwan Lee of South Korea who lives in Austria, Tai-Wai Li of Hong Kong, Christian Lombardi of Germany, Octavio Mas Arocas of Spain, Paolo Paroni of Italy, Georgi Patrikov of Bulgaria, Benjamin Rous of the United States, Elior Sharivker of Israel, Yosyp Sozanskyy of Ukraine, Jin Tanaka of Japan who lives in Wales, Yasutaka Tsuda of Japan, Viatcheslav Valeev of Russia, Shin Watanabe of Japan and Alexander Zverunov of Russia.

In addition to the lively competition, contestants also participated in a series of Master Classes and special events and enjoyed the opportunity to have individual and small group instruction and interaction with jury and orchestra members.

The competition jury was composed of Jooyong Ahn of the United States, Yuri Alzhnev of Ukraine, Giorgi Jordania of Republic of Georgia, Joan McNeill Murray of the United States, Jonathan Sternberg of the United States and Yuri Suchkov of Moscow.

In 2005 Third Round Contemporary Compositions selections were a new orchestral work by Yuri Alznev, Christopher Kaufman's Island, Dana Paul Perna's Bucks County Ballad and Judith Lang Zaimont's Stillness - Poem for Orchestra.

Sources

• ANOUNCING THE RESULTS OF THE 2005 VAKHTANG JORDANIA INTERNATIONAL CONDUCTING COMPETITION, Top40-Charts.com, NY, September 26 2005