1. Peter Haig Oundjian was born on 21 December 1955 and is a Canadian-American violinist and conductor.
19 Facts About Peter Oundjian
1. 2.
Peter Oundjian was born in Toronto, Ontario, the third of five children of Haig Aram Oundjian and his wife Joan Bertrand Oundjian.
3.
Peter Oundjian's father was of Armenian-British descent, his mother was British.
4.
Peter Oundjian was educated in England, where he began studying the violin at age seven with Manoug Parikian.
5.
Peter Oundjian attended Charterhouse School in Godalming and continued his studies later with Bela Katona.
6.
Peter Oundjian subsequently studied at the Juilliard School with Ivan Galamian, Itzhak Perlman, and Dorothy DeLay.
7.
In 1980, Peter Oundjian won First Prize at the International Violin Competition in Vina del Mar, Chile.
8.
Peter Oundjian became the first violinist of the Tokyo String Quartet and held the post for 14 years.
9.
Peter Oundjian then shifted his full-time musical focus to conducting.
10.
Since 1981, Peter Oundjian has taught as an adjunct professor of violin at the Yale School of Music.
11.
Peter Oundjian was the Artistic Director of the Nieuw Sinfonietta Amsterdam from 1998 to 2003.
12.
Peter Oundjian is the Artistic Advisor and Principal Guest Conductor of the Caramoor International Music Festival.
13.
Peter Oundjian was the Principal Guest Conductor of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra for three years.
14.
Peter Oundjian became principal guest conductor and artistic advisor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in September 2006.
15.
Peter Oundjian was named music director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in January 2003, and assumed the post in 2004.
16.
In February 2007, Peter Oundjian extended his contract with the TSO to 2012.
17.
Peter Oundjian had previously served as the Colorado Symphony's principal guest conductor from 2003 to 2006.
18.
Peter Oundjian is a cousin to British comedian Eric Idle.
19.
In June 2007, Peter Oundjian conducted the world premiere of an oratorio by Idle and John DuPrez based on the Monty Python movie Life of Brian, titled Not the Messiah, at the first Luminato Festival in Toronto, Canada.