PR Web (press release), WA
Sept 24 2005

Anouncing the Results of the 2005 Vakhtang Jordania International
Conducting Competition

Top Three Finishers From Armenia, Italy and the United States

New York, NY (PRWEB) September 24, 2005 — The Vakhtang Jordania
International Conducting Competition has announced the results of its
2005 competition held in Kharkov, Ukraine between August 29 and
September 4. This year’s competition featured 29 competitors from 16
countries around the world.

The jury did not award a Jordania Grand Prize, but did decide on two
William L. Montague, Jr. Second Prizes – Harutyun Arzumanyan of
Armenia and Matteo Pagliari of Italy. Third Prize was awarded to
Christopher Chen of the United States.

Mr. Arzumanyan is a graduate of the Yerevan State Conservatory as a
violinist and conductor. He 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.

Mr. Pagliari currently holds 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. He holds a conducting degree from the
Conservatorio Arrigo Boito in Parma, Italy.

Mr. Chen is a graduate of the Peabody Conservatory and is currently
Assistant Conductor of the Baltimore Opera. He is a frequent guest
conductor in Europe, the United Kingdom, Australia and Finland. He
was recently selected as one of eight conductors in the American
Symphony Orchestra League’s 2005 National Conductor preview.

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

Third Prizewinner Mr. Chen will receive a concert engagement during
the 2006-2007 concert season with an orchestra in Ukraine.

The Orchestra Favorite prize was awarded to Boguslav Kobierski of
Poland, who is the current 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 is 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. She is the Conductor and
Director of the Orchestra at St. Mary Magdalen in Oxford, England.

Other participants in the 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.

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.

This year’s 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.

The 2005 Vakhtang Jordania International Conducting Competition was a
great success, both artistically and as a means for continuing to
bring the Kharkov Philharmonic Orchestra
() to the rest of the
world. 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. Also
important was the chance to meet and spend time with other conductors
from around the world. More about the competition at

Building on the great success of this year’s event, planning for an
expanded and even more international 2006 Vakhtang Jordania
International Conducting Competition has already begun.