Missak Baghboudarian

MISSAK BAGHBOUDARIAN
Conductor of the Syrian National Symphony Orchestra Missak Baghboudarian was born to Armenian parents Noubar and Maro Baghboudarian, in Damascus, Syria, with two sisters: Dzovag, a violinist, and Karoun, a cellist. He received his primary education at the National United School in Damascus. From a young age, he developed a strong passion for music and went on to pursue his studies in various music courses. He studied at the High Institute of Music in Damascus for five years under the supervision of Sulhi al-Wadi – the conductor of the Syrian National Symphony Orchestra. As an excellent student with a great talent for music, from 1997-2002, Missak Baghboudarian was granted a state scholarship to continue his studies in the Italian cities of Florence and Milan with Alessandro Pinzauti and Julius Kalmar; he took part in some master classes with H. Handt, D. Pascu, M. Beck, Carl St. Clair, Jorma Panula and Riccardo Muti. From 2001 to 2003, he was a principal conductor of the Florence Amadeus Orchestra and performed in concerts in several cities of Toscana (Florence, Chianciano, Vicchio, Poggibonsi, etc.). He has also conducted the Bruno Maderna Symphony Orchestra of Forlì, the Hans Swarovski Orchestra of Milan, the New Philharmonic Orchestra of Sofia, the Pacific Symphony Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra of the Dominican Republic, the Grunbunden Kammerphilharmonie, the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra of Algeria, the Bernasconi Ensemble of La Scala Opera, and many others. He conducted the SNSO in several concerts in Syria (Damascus, Aleppo, Latakia, and Homs) and abroad (Lebanon – Bahrain – Jordan – Oman – U. A. E. – Turkey – Italy and Algeria). He worked with international soloists like Armen Babakhanian, Galina Vartcheva, Riccardo Sandiford, Ghazwan Zerkly, Daniele Giorgi, Gloria Scalchi, Fabio Andreotti, Talar Dekrmenjian, Nabil Suleiman, Bassam Nashawati. In 2004, he had the honor to conduct the SNSO in the opening concert of the Damascus Opera House in the presence of H.E. the President of the Syrian Arab Republic. He was invited to conduct many official ceremonies such as the opening and closing concerts of the Damascus Arab Capital of Culture 2008, the Tlemcan Capital of Islamic Culture (Algeria), and the closing ceremony of the Oran Arab Film Festival 2012. In 2010, he conducted Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro,” the first opera produced at the Damascus Opera House. He performed many world premieres of works by contemporary composers such as Marta, Gentilucci, Annachiara Gedda, Grazia Bonasia (Italy) Johanna Doderer (Austria), Nouri Iskandar, Sulhi Al-Wadi (Syria), Marcos Fernandez (Spain), Vedran Mehnovic (Bosnia). Missak Baghboudarian was part of a big celebration of the 100th anniversary of Aram Khachaturian in the Damascus Operr House initiated in close cooperation with the Embassy of Armenia and with the participation of the renowned Armenian pianist Armen Babakhanyan. Another memorable event was the concert in memory of the composer Komitas dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in 2015. In 2016, he was invited to conduct at the Cartage International Festival in Tunisia. He is a permanent guest at the International Festival of Symphonic Music in Algeria. In 2017, he had the idea in cooperation with the “Bruno Maderna” Association of the EU.TERPE Project cofounded by the Creative European Programme of the European Union to promote the transnational circulation of new musical work co-created by EU and refugee artists. He conducted concerts in 2018 in Forli (Italy), Almeria (Spain), and Sarajevo (Bosnia). In 1998 he was a Founder Member of the “Cantiere Musicale di Toscana” Association – Italy, and from 1998 to 2006 – the Coordinator of “Estate Regina” Festival – in Montecatini Terme -Italy. In 2010, he received a Medal of Honor “Stella della Solidarietà Italiana” Order of “Commendatore” from the President of Italy for his efforts and achievements in developing the musical cooperation projects between Syria and Italy. He was awarded with the “Golden Medal” of the Ministry of Culture in Armenia. In 2021, he received the “State Encouragement Award” in Syria. In April 2023, he was awarded the “BraVo Award” on the stage of the prestigious Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. He is very active in creating cooperation programs between Syrian and international organizations and institutions and offering his services as a “music consultant” to many NGOs working in the field of music and culture in Syria and abroad. In 2019 he completed “His Master in Performing Arts Management”” organized by Academia la Scala and the Politecnico of Milano. Missak Baghboudarian is the Head of the Orchestra Department at the High Institute of Music of Damascus and the Conductor of the Chamber Choir of the same Institute.