FRENCH ARMENIAN CONDUCTOR GEORGE PEHLIVANIAN IN YEREVAN FOR A CONCERT DEDICATED TO GENOCIDE CENTENNIAL

15:54, 17 Apr 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

World-known French Armenian conductor and violinist George Pehlivanian
will give a concert in Yerevan in commemoration of the 100th
anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

The concert scheduled for April 18 will feature the “Mirzoyan Quartet”
and the children’s choirs of the AYB and the French International
School.

The program includes works by Komitas, Ravel, Alexander Harutyunyan
and others.

Born in Beirut, Lebanon, into a musical family f Armenian origin,
Pehlivanian studied violin and piano from an early age. He emigrated
to Los Angeles in 1975, and worked as a violinist before studying
conducting with Pierre Boulez, Lorin Maazel, and Ferdinand Leitner.

Pehlivanian also attended the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Italy.

In 1991 he became the first American to win the Grand Prize in
the history of the Besancon International Conductors’ Competition
in France. From 2005 until 2008 he was the first foreign Chief
Conductor of the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra, and in 2007 he
became Principal Guest Conductor at the Opera Theatre of Cagliari in
Sardinia, Italy. He remained Principal Guest Conductor of the Deutsche
Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland Pfalz from 2002 – 2012. He also held guest
conducting positions with the Residentie Orchestra in The Hague and
the Vienna Chamber Orchestra. He enjoys a long-standing relationship
with the Spanish National Orchestra since 1996, and recorded works
by Rodrigo with the orchestra.