RUBEN VARTANYAN DIES
Arlington Connection
May 14 2008
VA
RUBEN VARTANYAN, 70, Music Director of the Arlington Philharmonic
and internationally known maestro, died at his home in Arlington on
Wednesday, May 7. The cause of death was a cerebral hemorrhage.
Maestro Vartanyan had been an Arlington resident since arriving in
the area in 1988. He had served as the music director of the previous
Arlington Symphony for 13 years, and took the helm of the Philharmonic
when it was created in 2005.
Born in St. Petersburg, Russia to musical parents, Vartanyan spent
his early childhood in Armenia. At the age of ten, he enrolled in
the Central Music School in Moscow, and later entered the Moscow
Conservatory of Music where he earned a degree in piano performance
and a Ph.D. in Opera and Symphony Conducting. From 1980 through 1988,
Maestro Vartanyan was the conductor of the renowned Bolshoi Opera in
Moscow, leading more than 500 performances.
During his international career, in addition to his time as Bolshoi
Opera conductor, Vartanyan was also the music director of the National
Symphony of Bolivia. He was the first assistant conductor-in-training
under the legendary Herbert von Karajan at the Vienna State Opera
and Vienna Philharmonic Opera.
More recently, in addition to his tenure with the Arlington Symphony,
Maestro Vartanyan was the music director of the National Lyric
Opera Company in Washington, D.C. and conducted the Williamsburg,
Va. Symphonia. He has held conducting seminars at the Shenandoah
Conservatory and at George Mason University, and has taught a number
of private students in the D.C. area.
The last concert he conducted was with the Arlington Philharmonic
on March 9th, 2008. He became a U.S. citizen, and once expressed that
"This is a country that I love immensely. This is my country forever."