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"a noble, majestic account... Utidjian revelled in the grace and transparency of Mozart's writing"....."an unashamedly romantic interpretation, expansive, searching as well as playful. Each phrase was lovingly shaped, moulded and savoured to the full, sustained by a caressingly warm, fluid sound throughout..." (The Link, 1997)
"a sublime performance - as a noble prayer rising from the depths of the heart. A rare artistic treat." (Pharos, 2002)
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 through consultations 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 Usti nad 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. 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, Director of Music at Charles University and chief chorus-master of the City of Beroun Chorus.
Operas conducted to date, in rehearsal or performance:
"...Utidjian impressed me with his secure and well led performance of Birtwistle's "Silbury Air"....an infectious enthusiasm which transmits itself to his players." Simon Bainbridge
"Haig Utidjian is a conductor of outstanding musicality and interpretive maturity. He is a sensitive and imaginative musician, with a keen ear for beauty of sound and a highly-developed sense of line and phrasing. He has a rare understanding of the human voice, and offers admirable leadership and support as well as sympathetic accompaniment to his singers." Frantisek Vajnar (Former Chief Conductor, Prague National Theatre Opera)
