Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra

Recognized as a masterful and dynamic presence in the conducting world, Peter Oundjian has developed a multi-faceted portfolio as a conductor, violinist, professor and artistic advisor. He has been celebrated for his musicality, an eye towards collaboration, innovative programming, leadership and training with students and an engaging personality. Strengthening his ties to Colorado, Oundjian is now Principal Conductor of the Colorado Symphony in addition to Music Director of the Colorado Music Festival, which successfully pivoted to a virtual format during the pandemic summers of 2020 and 2021.

Now carrying the title Conductor Emeritus, Oundjian’s fourteen-year tenure as Music Director of the Toronto Symphony served as a major creative force for the city of Toronto and was marked by a reimagining of the TSO’s programming, international stature, audience development, touring and a number of outstanding recordings, garnering a Grammy nomination in 2018 and a Juno award for Vaughan Williams’ Orchestral Works in 2019. He led the orchestra on several international tours to Europe and the USA, conducting the first performance by a North American orchestra at Reykjavik’s Harpa Hall in 2014.  

From 2012-2018, Oundjian served as Music Director of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra during which time he implemented the kind of collaborative programming that has become a staple of his directorship. Oundjian led the RSNO on several international tours, including North America, China, and a European festival tour with performances at the Bregenz Festival, the Dresden Festival as well as in Innsbruck, Bergamo, Ljubljana, and others. His final appearance with the orchestra as their Music Director was at the 2018 BBC Proms where he conducted Britten’s epic War Requiem. 

Highlights of past seasons include appearances with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Iceland Symphony, the Detroit, Atlanta, Saint Louis, Baltimore, Dallas, Seattle, Indianapolis, Milwaukee and New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. With the onset of world-wide concert cancellations, support for students at Yale and Juilliard became a priority. In 2022/2023 season Oundjian will conduct the opening weekend of Atlanta Symphony, followed by return engagements with Baltimore, Indianapolis, Dallas, Colorado and Toronto symphonies, as well as a visit to New World Symphony.  

Oundjian has been a visiting professor at Yale University’s School of Music since 1981, and in 2013 was awarded the school’s Sanford Medal for Distinguished Service to Music. A dedicated educator, Oundjian regularly conducts the Yale, Juilliard, Curtis and New World symphony orchestras. 

An outstanding violinist, Oundjian spent fourteen years as the first violinist for the renowned Tokyo String Quartet before he turned his energy towards conducting. 

Performing music from baroque to new commissions on both modern and period instruments, Alina Ibragimova has established a reputation as one of the most accomplished and intriguing violinists of her generation. This is illustrated by her prominent presence at the BBC Proms since 2015: aside from concerto performances from the standard repertoire, her Proms appearances have included a concert with a baroque ensemble and two late-night Royal Albert Hall recitals featuring the complete Bach partitas and sonatas, for which The Guardian commented "The immediacy and honesty of Ibragimova's playing has the curious ability to collapse any sense of distance between performer and listener". In the 2018 Proms, Alina will give the World Premiere of the Rolf Wallin Violin Concerto with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Edward Gardner.

Over the next season, Alina will have a strong focus on Shostakovich Concerto's No. 1 and No.2, which she will record with Vladimir Jurowski for Hyperion Records. She looks forward to debut engagements with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (Gardiner), the Toronto Symphony and Minnesota Orchestras, and will return to the London Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Europe (Haitink), Swedish Radio Symphony (Harding), Seattle Symphony (Ludovic Morlot) and Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (Jurowski). Highlights among recent concerto engagements include debuts with the Boston Symphony, Montreal Symphony, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Sinfonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Tokyo Symphony, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony and returns with the London Philharmonic and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. Alina has also toured extensively in Australia with the Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Tasmania symphony orchestras as well as with the Australian Chamber Orchestra.

Her long-standing duo partnership with pianist Cédric Tiberghien has featured highly successful cycles of the Beethoven and Mozart violin sonatas at the Wigmore Hall. Highlights among recent engagements included a three-week tour of Japan and Korea, extensive touring of North America and a Berlin debut recital at the Pierre Boulez Saal. In 18/19, the duo looks forward to debuts at the Konzerthaus Vienna and a return tour of Japan and Korea.

Alina is a founding member of the Chiaroscuro Quartet. Together they have toured extensively since 2005 and have become one of the most sought-after period ensembles.

Alina's discography on Hyperion Records includes 15 albums ranging from Bach to Szymanowski and Ysaye. Her latest release featuring the complete Mozart Violin Sonata cycle with Cedric Tiberghien was referred to as "…A set that will become the modern reference recording…" by Gramaphone Magazine. The next release with Franck and Vierne's Violin Sontatas is expected in Autumn 2018.

Born in Russia in 1985 Alina studied at the Moscow Gnesin School before moving with her family to the UK in 1995 where she studied at the Yehudi Menuhin School and Royal College of Music. She was also a member of the Kronberg Academy Masters programme. Alina's teachers have included Natasha Boyarsky, Gordan Nikolitch and Christian Tetzlaff. Alina has been the recipient of awards including the Royal Philharmonic Society Young Artist Award 2010, the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award 2008, the Classical BRIT Young Performer of the Year Award 2009 and was a member of the BBC New Generation Artists Scheme 2005-7. She was made an MBE in the 2016 New Year Honours List. Alina records for Hyperion Records and performs on a c.1775 Anselmo Bellosio violin kindly provided by Georg von Opel.