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Conductor Raffi Armenian Leaves Montreal Conservatoire

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  • Conductor Raffi Armenian Leaves Montreal Conservatoire

    CONDUCTOR RAFFI ARMENIAN LEAVES MONTREAL CONSERVATOIRE

    June 21, 2013 - 13:36 AMT

    PanARMENIAN.Net - Raffi Armenian, a former director of the
    Conservatoire de musique de Montreal and the conductor of its orchestra
    since 1981, has left the school to pursue other opportunities,
    Montreal Gazette reported.

    One of these is promoting the opera he has just written, Beware of
    Pity, based on a novel by Austrian writer Stefan Zweig.

    "This is the advantage of being free," Armenian, 71, said from his
    home on Nun's Island.

    Born in Cairo and trained in Vienna, Armenian coached dozens of
    conducting students at the Conservatoire and elevated its student
    orchestra to a high level.

    Among the best-known graduates of his conducting class are Jacques
    Lacombe, music director of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, and
    Jean-Marie Zeitouni, music director of the Columbus Symphony and I
    Musici de Montreal.

    "What I am most proud of is this," he said of his students.

    Music director of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony from 1971 to 1992
    and professor of conducting in Graz, Austria, from 1997 to 1999,
    Armenian has conducted many Canadian orchestras and opera companies,
    including the OSM and the Opera de Montreal.

    Armenian said he hoped to restore the professional contacts he lost
    during his term as Conservatoire director from 2008 to 2011 and resume
    his career as a guest conductor. He and his wife, Agnes Grossmann,
    will continue to live on Nun's Island.

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