Karoun Baghboudarian 

KAROUN  BAGHBOUDARIAN 

 Karoun Baghboudarian was born in Damascus in 1979. She started studying cello at the age of seven at the Sulhi Al-Wadi Music Institute and pursued her studies at the Higher Institute of Music in Damascus majoring in Cello and Ear Training. She graduated from the Institute in 2003. She was a member of the Su

lhi Al-Wadi Children’s Orchestra and the Syrian National Symphonic Orchestra (since its foundation in 1993), as well as a member of the “Violoncellissimo” Group and the Baroque Soloists’ Ensemble of Damascus. She also played as a soloist under the baton of SulhiAl-Wadi in 1997 and Missak Baghboudarian in 2010. She took part in The Young Euro Classical Music Festival in Berlin, with the Youth Orchestra of the Higher Institute of Music in 2006, and attended other workshops such as “Maggio Formazione” in Florence-Italy the same year. Furthermore, she participated in several workshops in the Kodaly Music Educational System in Lebanon (2007-2011). In 2009, she obtained a “Formation Musicale” diploma from the National Conservatory of Lyon-France. Starting in 2015, she relocated to the Netherlands and since then has collaborated with several ensembles in the northern part of the country. In 2004, for the first time in Syria, she designed the solfeggio syllabus of the Higher Institute of Music, where she has been teaching Ear Training since her graduation. She has also contributed to the Sulhi Al-Wadi Music Institute syllabus between 2011 and 2014, on top of teaching cello there since 2003. She is the founder and instructor of the Kiddy Orchestra. In 2010, she presented a unique and avant-garde music project in Syria for children between three to seven years old. In June 2015, they presented their fifth and last annual concert. In October 2017, Karoun returned with her “Kiddy Orchestra” project in several music schools in the north of the Netherlands, such as Het Kunstkwartier, Kielzog, Clockhuys, and MuziekHuis050. She has twice performed as a guest cellist with the WDR Funkhausorchester-Köln” (2017). In 2018, she participated in the “EU-TERPE” Project in Italy, Spain, and Bosnia and played with the Syrian Expat Philharmonic Orchestra (SEPO) in various European countries (2017- 2018). In June 2018, Karoun Baghboudarian obtained a Master’s Diploma in ILT Cello at the Prins Claus Conservatorium in Groningen (Instrumental Learning and Teaching). In July 2020, she participated with the Luigi Cherubini Youth Orchestra under the baton of the Italian maestro Riccardo Muti in the 24th Roads of Friendship Concert. She has been participating as an assistant at the Hello Cello Orchestra within the Cello Biennale since 2016 and a cello teacher at the “De Cello als Welkom” project in Groningen. Karoun Baghboudarian performs in various ensembles and chamber groups, including “Mezzop Trio” and “Nootstroom.” She is a cellist at “Opera Spanga” and morally supports patients in different hospitals with her performances in the “Muziek aan Bed” Foundation. From September 2023, she will engage as a theory teacher at Prins Claus Conservatorium apart from her present position as a cello teacher in the Music Education Department.