Recipient of The Sir Georg Solti Conducting Award from The Solti Foundation U.S., conductor Aram Demirjian has built a reputation as an insightful interpreter of the symphonic repertoire and an engaging, “enthusiastic, even electric” (San Francisco Classical Voice) presence on the podium. Widely acclaimed for his transformative work as Music Director of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra (KSO), he is sought after for his “graceful, energetic direction” (Sarasota Herald Tribune) and dynamic programs that both excite audiences and broaden the idea of what one can expect to see on the symphonic stage.
As the eighth Music Director of the KSO, Aram has led the orchestra to new artistic heights and national distinction for its achievements. A devoted champion of American music, Aram’s programming has grown the ensemble’s repertoire, particularly by emphasizing music by living composers, artists from underrepresented groups, and cross-disciplinary collaboration. Under his leadership, the KSO was selected in 2020 as one of four orchestras to be featured at SHIFT: A Festival of American Orchestras, presented by The Kennedy Center and Washington Performing Arts. In the spring of 2022, Aram, the KSO, and Tessa Lark premiered Michael Schachter’s Violin Concerto: Cycle of Life, jointly commissioned by the KSO and Knoxville Museum of Art. The project, inspired by the work of East Tennessee-based glass artist Richard Jolley, was profiled by the PBS show Craft in America. Mere weeks following, Aram and the KSO collaborated with Knoxville-based drum ensemble Indigenous Vibes for a thunderous performance of James DeMars’ SABAR: Concerto for African Drums and Orchestra.
Aram’s 2023-24 season features him leading the KSO at the Tennessee and Bijou theaters, including Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, Ives’ Second Symphony, and Mahler’s Fourth Symphony; exciting commissions and premieres by Sarah Gibson, Jonathan Leshnoff, and Jorge Variego; plus the April 2024 Cosmos Festival, a series of programs exploring humanity’s relationship with the broader physical and spiritual universe. The KSO also presents its holiday tradition of Handel’s Messiah, and closes its season with Verdi’s Requiem in celebration of the work’s 150th anniversary.
In demand as a guest conductor, Aram was praised in his San Diego Symphony debut for “elicit[ing] dramatic, incisive performances from the orchestra” (San Diego Story), and has enjoyed frequent collaborations with The Philadelphia Orchestra. In recent seasons, Aram also has appeared with the symphonies of Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Kansas City, New England Conservatory, Nashville, North Carolina, Colorado, Omaha, Portland, San Antonio, San Jose, Santa Rosa, St. Louis, and Tucson; the Louisiana and Orlando philharmonics; the Minnesota and Sarasota orchestras; plus appearances at the Big Ears Festival, Oregon Bach Festival, Breckenridge Music Festival, Tanglewood Music Center’s Festival of Contemporary Music, and Mostly Modern Festival. Internationally, Aram has conducted the Orquesta Sinfónico de Minería, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, and Orchéstre Métropolitain de Montréal.
Speaking from the stage at his first concert as Music Director, Aram made a promise to the audience that the KSO would “bring the music out to the community and spirit of Knoxville into the concert hall,” and he has lived up to that commitment through a series of acclaimed, distinctive artistic collaborations within the community. Recent conducting highlights have included a fully-staged production of Leonard Bernstein’s Candide with Clarence Brown Theatre; choreographed performances of Manuel da Falla’s El Amor Brujo with Appalachian Ballet Company; and performances of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony incorporating an ensemble from Tennessee School for the Deaf performing the Ode to Joy in American Sign Language. Aram and the KSO also regularly perform as part of the internationally renowned Big Ears Festival. Early in his tenure, Aram instituted KSO: UnStaged, a series of experiential, multi-sensory events in nontraditional settings around Knoxville, co-curated by partners including craft breweries, yoga studios, and even an airplane manufacturing company.
Throughout his career, Aram has worked with internationally renowned conductors Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Stéphane Denève, Alan Gilbert, Bernard Haitink, Manfred Honeck, Louis Langrée, Fabio Luisi, Kurt Masur, and Antonio Pappano, and collaborated with an illustrious roster of artists including Julia Bullock, Michelle Cann, Augustin Hadelich, Stefan Jackiw, Yo-Yo Ma, Nicholas Phan, Jason Vieaux, and Joyce Yang.
In addition to being honored with the 2020 Solti Award, Aram also received the 2017 and 2019 Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Awards; a 2018 Solti Foundation U.S. Buccheri Opera Residency with Lyric Opera of Chicago (for Massenet’s Cendrillon, assisting Sir Andrew Davis); and the 2011 Robert J. Harth Conducting Prize from the Aspen Music Festival, where he was a three-time Conducting Fellow in the Aspen Conducting Academy. From 2012 to 2016, he served as Associate Conductor of the Kansas City Symphony.
The proud child of an immigrant family, Aram is American-born and of Armenian descent. He holds a joint Bachelor of Arts in Music and Government from Harvard University, and a Master of Music in Orchestral Conducting from New England Conservatory.
For more information, please visit www.aramdemirjian.com.