Young Armenian conductor Sergey Smbatyan is the founder, artistic director and principal conductor of the State Youth Orchestra of Armenia. Under his leadership, SYOA received invitations to internationally renowned festivals and major venues. For his achievements in culture the conductor was awarded with the Title “Honored Artist of the Republic of Armenia”.
Highlights of his career include performances with the Mariinsky Theatre Symphony Orchestra, the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, the DSO Berlin, Dresden Philharmonic, the Warsaw Philharmonic at the 19th Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival, the Korean Chamber Orchestra with the world renowned actor John Malkovich. Recent highlights also included his later in Moscow with soloist Pinchas Zukerman, in Boston and at Carnegie Hall in New York as well as his debut with the London Symphony Orchestra and the “LSO Discovery” concert. He conducted the joint gala concert with the renowned artist Maxim Vengerov at the Windsor Castle for HRH Prince Charles “Princes Trust” event. The concert was repeated at Buckingham Palace in 2011 where he conducted the Philharmonia Orchestra again. On September 21, 2016 he conducted the launch concert of the All Armenian Choir and Orchestra "Generation of Independence”, where 1144 Armenian musicians from different regions of Armenia and Artsakh performed together on one stage. Sergey Smbatyan also founded the 24/04 World Orchestra to commemorate the Armenian Genocide.
He is the co-founder and artistic director of the Armenian Composers’ Arts Festival (ACAF) and the founder and the artistic director of the Khachaturian Festival. He also seeks active participation in charity projects. In 2009 he founded the unique UNICEF Children Orchestra which gave numerous performances in Armenia and in Europe.
In 2015 Sergey Smbatyan received the “Order of Arts and Letters of France” granted by the Minister of Culture and Communication of France.
Sergey Smbatyan is represented worldwide by Tanja Dorn at Dorn Music.