Acclaimed as a cultural leader in his native Armenia and increasingly in demand on the international stage, Sergey Smbatyan is founder, Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra. In September 2019 he became Principal Conductor of the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra following highly successful tours of Germany, Austria and the United States, including performances at the Berlin Philharmonie, Vienna’s Musikverein and Carnegie Hall.

Armed with the experience of building a symphony orchestra from scratch, Sergey Smbatyan has created four other orchestras in recent years. In 2015 he founded the 24/04 Orchestra to commemorate the centenary of the Armenian Genocide and the “Generation of Independence”.

All-Armenian Choir and Orchestra to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Armenia’s independence.

Lauded as one of today's probing musical voices, Nancy Zhou harbors a robust presence that seeks to invigorate appreciation for the art and science of the violin. Her thoughtful musicianship resonates with a global audience in such a way that brings her on stage with leading orchestras around the world. The violinist has collaborated with the Royal Stockholm, Hong Kong Philharmonics; Shanghai, and Kansas City Symphonies, among others. Alongside projects as a soloist, Nancy harbors interest in chamber music and music education. She has visited the Tanglewood, Verbier, Ravinia Festivals. The violinist devotes time to a private online studio as well, teaching students across the globe and presenting masterclasses on fundamental training and cultivating mindful awareness critical to performance.

This season, the violinist explores works outside the traditional oeuvre. Chinese composer Zhao Jiping’s first concerto will be performed with the New Jersey Symphony at the Lincoln Center. She will also appear with the Würzburg Philharmonic and return to Italy for recitals.

American-born, Nancy commenced violin studies with her father, later studying with Miriam Fried at the New England Conservatory while pursuing her interest in literature at Harvard University. She is an Associated Artist at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel as well as a former scholar of the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation.

Emerging from a group of devotees and enthusiasts of classical music, the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra was created by Sergey Smbatyan, the present Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the orchestra. From the very onset of its existence, the orchestra has been home to bright and energetic musicians, assembled around the shared vision of amplifying the cultural awareness in Armenia and elevating the spiritual excellence of human nature by the power of classical music. The orchestra performs over 50 concerts annually, with a rich and multifarious repertoire covering multiple music genres and performance formats. 

It has been profiled a multitude of times with such world-class composers as Krzysztof Penderecki, Sir Karl Jenkins, Giya Kancheli and Tigran Mansuryan as well as a number of highly distinguished performing artists. The Armenian State Symphony Orchestra has a history of close relationships with world-scale artists such as Valery Gergiev, Vladimir Spivakov, Maxim Vengerov, Denis Matsuev, Vadim Repin, Vag Papian, Boris Berezovsky, Zakhar Bron and others.