Eduard Topchjan

In 2001 E. Topchjan appeared with the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, and in 2003 at the Bolshoi Theatre, both times to great acclaim. These concerts were followed by the ANPO tours in the Czech Republic, Germany, Slovakia, and France with remarkable appearances in Nuremberg, Prague, Brno, Bratislava, Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Nice and many other cities.

Eduard Topchjan is especially known for his wide-ranging repertoire, where besides the symphonic works are included the operas. Among the operas he has conducted are: “Il Barbiere di Siviglia”, “Aida”, “Simon Boccanegra”, “Otello”, “Rigoletto”, “Il Tabarro”; “Madama Butterfly”, “Turandot”, “Tosca”, “La Boheme”, “Cavalleria Rusticana”, “I Pagliacci”, “Eugene Onegin”, and others. 

As a guest conductor he has performed with 50 important orchestras in Europe, the USA and Asia, among them the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonic Cologne, the Frankfurt Opera, the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz, Opéra de Monte-Carlo, the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia, the Siena Festival Orchestra, the Kärntner Sinfonieorchester, Orchestra del Festival Brescia and other orchestras.

Eduard Topchjan made his début with the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra in 2000. That same year he was appointed Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the ANPO and began successful appearances with the ANPO in Armenia and abroad. 

Maestro Topchjan earned much praise from the critics and the audience for his unique interpretations of the main symphonic and contemporary music repertoire. 

Topchjan's vast repertoire includes works from baroque to contemporary symphonic pieces as well as chamber orchestra repertoire and operas. A number of pieces by the composers from

Armenia and abroad have been dedicated to Maestro and the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra.

The outstanding Armenian conductor Eduard Topchjan studied violin at the Yerevan Conservatory and went on to study conducting with the prominent Armenian conductor Ohan Durian, followed by valuable consultations from Sir George Solti, Claudio Abbado and Nello Santi. In 1991 Eduard Topchjan founded the Serenade Chamber Orchestra  which soon became the most promising orchestra in Armenia and shortly afterwards it builds up a fine international reputation, winning prizes at various prestigious competitions and releasing highly acclaimed CDs with several labels. Topchjan toured Europe regularly with the Serenade, appearing in more than 700 concerts.

In 2008 the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra led by Eduard Topchjan made a very successful tour to Japan, with 15 concerts in the best concert halls of Tokyo, Osaka, Niigata, Nagoya, Hamamatsu and

other cities. The high standard performance of this orchestra and its Principal Conductor were warmly praised in Japanese media. 

Eduard Topchjan has appeared with such celebrated artists as Placido Domingo, Pinchas Zukerman, Renato Bruson, Giuseppe Giacomini, Vladimir Chernov, Vincenzo La Scola, Raina Kabaivanska, Mischa Maisky, Natalia Gutman, Steven Isserlis, David Geringas, Yuri Bashmet, Kim Kashkashian, Diemut Poppen, Emmanuel Pahud, Tibor Varga, Radovan Vlatkovic, Sergei Nakariakov, Boris Berezovsky, Sergey Khachatryan, Julia Fischer, Isabelle Faust, Daishin Kashimoto, Sergei Babayan, Konstantin Lifschitz, François-Joël Thiollier, Paul Mayer, Jana Bouskova, Narek Hakhnazaryan, Alexei Lyubimov, Bernd Glemser, Bernard Ringeissen, Massimo Mercelli, Anton Sorokow,  François-Frédéric Guy, Vag Papian, Mario Brunello, Kirill Gerstein, Kolja Blacher, Sergei Krylov, Fabio Zanon, Simon Trpceski, Alexander Chaushian and many others.

In 2013-2014 season Maestro Topchjan was engaged to appear with the Hungarian National Symphony Orchestra (at the Musikverein in Vienna), the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, the Gulbenkian Symphony Orchestra, the  Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma, the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestra Della Toscana.

Eduard Topchjan has been the Artistic Director of several significant  festivals. Since 2007, together with cellist Alexander Chaushian, he has founded the Yerevan International Music Festival, becoming its artistic directors. This is an annual event which hosts numerous world-famous and local musicians.

In August, 2014 the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Eduard Topchjan participated in prestigious festivals in Italy, appearing with concerts in Rimini, Citta di Castello, Merano and Ravello. In October, 2014 he conducted the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra when it appeared in Austria and Germany with a noteworthy concert at the Brucknerhaus in Linz. In 2015 within the Armenian Genocide Centennial tours Eduard Topchjan conducted the ANPO in Denmark, Finland, Norway, USA, Mexico, Lebanon, Poland and Germany. In April 2015 he conducted the Russian National Orchestra and Yurlov State Russian Capella having performed a famous Requiem by Vyacheslav Artyomov. His appearance with Malaga Symphony Orchestra in November 2015 was highly acclaimed by Spanish media. 

In 2017 the orchestra under his baton toured Spain and Germany. On November 28, 2018 the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra  under the baton of Maestro Topchjan appeared at Berlin Konzerhaus in a concert dedicated to the 115th birth anniversary of Aram Khachaturian. The performance was honored by the presence of the President of Armenia Mr. Armen Sarkissian.

Eduard Topchjan's extraordinary talent and conducting style has attracted the attention of the world audiences and gained him highest critical and public acclaim. 

In 2007 he was granted the title of Meritorious Worker of Arts of Armenia and in 2011 he was awarded a Gold Medal of the Ministry of Culture of Armenia.

In 2013, Maestro Topchjan was granted knighthood with the Italian Order of Merit for Labour (OML).

In 2016 Eduard Topchjan was awarded the Medal of Services to the Motherland. 

In 2019-2020 there are planned concerts of the ANPO in China, Russia, Italy and South America. 

In 2016 E. Topchjan conducted the ANPO within the “Stars of the White Nights” festival in Saint-Petersburg with utmost success.

During his tenure the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra celebrating its 90th consecutive season received the status of the 'National' orchestra.

In 2018 the ANPO and Maestro Topchjan were represented by the British agency – Wright Music Management. In 2019 another British agency – Hazard Chase started to represent both the conductor and the orchestra.