George Pehlivanian (born 4-20-1964) is a Lebanese-Armenian conductor.[1][2]
Born in Beirut, Lebanon, in a musical family of Armenian origin[1] he studied violin and piano from an early age. Pehlivanian emigrated to Los Angeles in 1975, worked as a violinist and later studied conducting with Pierre Boulez, Lorin Maazel and Ferdinand Leitner. George Pehlivanian also attended the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Italy.[3]
In 1991 he won the Grand Prize in the Besançon International Conductors' Competition[4] in France. From 2005 until 2008 he served as Chief Conductor of the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra and in 2007 he became Principal Guest Conductor of the Opera Theatre of Cagliari in Sardegna, Italy.[3] He is also Principal Guest Conductor of the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz as well as guest conductor of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. He also held guest conducting positions with the Residentie Orchestra and the Vienna Chamber Orchestra.[5] He has also had a long relationship with the Spanish National Orchestra and recorded works by Rodrigo with the orchestra.[5]
George Pehlivanian has been invited to conduct the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia, BBC Philharmonic, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra della Scala, Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Orchestra Teatro San Carlo, Naples, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra, Spanish National Orchestra, RTVE Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra and Russian National Orchestra among others,[2][3][5][6] and collaborated with soloist such as Paul Badura-Skoda, Anne Akiko Meyers, Janine Jansen, Dubravka Tomšič Srebotnjak, Maxim Vengerov, Mischa Maisky and Leonidas Kavakos.[2][5][6] Mr. Pehlivanian has recorded for Virgin Classics/EMI, CHANDOS, Studios SM and BMG.[2][3][5][6]
He currently lives between Los Angeles, Ljubljana and Paris, where his family lives.[6]