Haig Utidjian was
educated at the Universities of Sussex, London and Cambridge, at the
Accademia Chigiana in Siena, and at the Guildhall School of Music
and Drama in London, where he completed the Advanced Conducting
Course in 1995. He was awarded the Ricordi Conducting Prize on
graduation and won the Competition for the Bob Harding Bursary for
Young Conductors. He furthered his studies with Vilem Tausky,
Richard Schumacher, Carlo Maria Giulini, Frantisek Vajnar and Josef
Kuchinka, and with the composer Juraj Filas.
Haig has served as Principal Conductor of the Chamber Orchestra of
Sussex (regularly appearing at the Chapel Royal in Brighton),
Artistic Director of The Ensemble Duparc (expounding music ranging
from Monteverdi to Birtwistle and including a collaboration with the
legendary Swiss tenor Hugues Cuenod) and Music Director of the
Symphony Chorus and Orchestra of the Cambridge University Beethoven
Society (into whose repertoire he introduced several major works
from the Second Viennese School). He has guest-conducted widely in
the UK, in the Channel Islands (including the inaugural concert of
the first Jersey International Festival), Cyprus (State
Philharmonic), Belgium (Jonge Filharmonie), Italy (Festival del
Piccolo Mondo Antico) and France (Festival International Albert-Roussel).
In the Czech Republic (where he is currently based) he has served as
assistant conductor at the Municipal Theatre of the city of Ustinad
Labem, working on productions of The Cunning Little Vixen and Die
Fledermaus, and training the theatre orchestra for a production of
La Finta Giardiniera at Prague's Estates Theatre (where Mozart
himself conducted). His collaboration with the orchestra resulted in
his appointment as Principal Conductor of the North Bohemian Chamber
Orchestra. Other Czech Orchestras he has conducted include, amongst
others, the Prague Philharmonia, the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra,
the Northern Czech Philharmonic of Teplice, the West Bohemian
Symphony Orchestra and the Pardubice Chamber Philharmonic. In
addition, he serves as Director of Orchestral Activities at the
Prague University of Economics, as Director of Music at Charles
University and as chief chorus-master of the City of Beroun Chorus.
HAIG UTIDJIAN