Sergey Smbatyan

Biography

Smbatyan was born in Yerevan, Armenia. His grandmother taught him to play the violin when he was four, and he later took lessons from Bagrat Vardanyan and Zakhar Bron. He has participated at various national and international competitions in Italy, Japan, and Romania, where he has won numerous awards. He has also performed at both the Moscow and Israel Philharmonic Orchestras as a soloist. In 2009 he graduated from both the Moscow Conservatory and the Yerevan Komitas State Conservatory (where his teacher was Yuri Davtyan). In 2005, he founded the State Youth Orchestra of Armenia. He later became the artistic and music director of all Armenian orchestras. In 2009, he became a founder of the UNICEF Children Orchestra and of the Armenian Composing Arts Festival. In both of these capacities he gave performances in orphanages and nursing homes in Armenia and other parts of Europe. In 2009, he also obtained a Ph.D. in fine arts from the Institute of Arts, a division of the Armenian National Academy of Sciences.

In the spring of 2010, he conducted the Philharmonia Orchestra, which was attended by Prince Charles and hosted at Windsor Castle, Berkshire. The following year, he conducted the London Symphony Orchestra along with Valery Gergiev, Colin Davis and Riccardo Muti. From 2012 to 2013 he conducted both the Dresden Philharmonic at the Dresden Frauenkirche and the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra. In 2012 he graduated from the Royal Academy of Music in London.

As of January, 2014, he resides in London as well as in Yerevan.