 The
Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra was formed 80 years ago in Yerevan, the
capital of Armenia. The founder of Armenian national symphonic music Alexander
Spendiarian, a student of Rimsky-Korsakov, conducted
its first performance. Today, the more than one hundred-piece ensemble
makes its home in Aram
Khachaturian Concert Hall in central Yerevan.
The orchestra draws its members from the ranks of graduates of the Yerevan
Komitas Conservatory and from the leading conservatories in Moscow and
St. Petersburg.
As the leading symphony orchestra of Armenia, the orchestra's
activities have included regular weekly concerts at Aram Khachaturian
Hall, as well as concert tours throughout Russia, the United States, Canada,
Austria, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Iran, UAE,
Lebanon, Cyprus, Greece and Turkey, performing at various prestigious
venues like the
Carnegie Hall (New York), Symphony Hall (Boston), Lincoln Center (Washington),
Megaron (Athens), Grand Hall of Moscow Conservatory to name a few.
In October 2000, Eduard Topchjan was appointed the Artistic
Director and Principal Conductor of the orchestra, a position that was
formerly held by conductors such as Michael Maluntsian, Ruben Vardanian,
David Khandjian, Valery Gergiev, Vahagn Papian, Loris Tjeknavorian and
Michael Avetissian.
Over the years many of the world's leading conductors
and soloists have appeared in concert with the orchestra, including A.Melik-Pashayev,
V.Ferrero, F.Konvichni, K.Masur, G.Rozhdestvensky, S. Richter, M. Rostropovich,
D. Oistrach, E.Gilels, I. Stern, L. Kogan,
V.Cliburn, A. Watts, G. Kremer, V. Ashkenazy, V.Spivakov and N.Gutman.
The tradition of inviting the renowned soloists from all over the world
to perform with the APO continues nowadays as well. Among the soloists
that performed with the orchestra during the last years were Steven Isserlis,
Francois-Joel Thiollier, David.Geringas, Nikolay Petrov, June Anderson,
Kim Kashkashian, Sergey Babayan, Ani and Ida Kavafians, Bernard Ringeissen,
Alexei Lyubimov, Sergey Khachatryan, Sergey Nakariakov, Renato Bruson,
Isabel Bayrakdaryan, Alexander Treger, Vladimir Krainev and many others.
The orchestra has performed most of the classical repertoire,
as well as premiered many works of the contemporary composers and realized
a number of concert performances of the well-known operas.
Since 1990, the Armenian Philharmonic has released more
than 40 CDs including those on ASV label, which were distributed throughout
the world. Some of the recordings were selected by
Hi-Fi, Gramophone and BBC Classic CD magazines as the Best Record of the
Month.
Among the forthcoming tours of the APO are those to Japan and USA.
The Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra is housing at the
Aram Khachaturian Concert Hall.
 Thanks
to the generous sponsorship of the Armenian
General Benevolent Union and its President Mrs.Louise Manoogian
Simone, the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra and Aram Khachaturian Concert
Hall are able to continue their activities on the highest professional
level.
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