Conductor Raffi Armenian leaves Montréal Conservatoire

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

“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 Opéra de Montréal.

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.