Nurhan Arman

During the 2022-2023 season Nurhan Arman continues as Music Director of Sinfonia Toronto and guest conducts orchestras in Canada, Italy, Germany, Greece and Georgia. His recent engagements include a four-concert tour in Italy with Orchestra I Pomeriggi Musicali, Festival Udine Castello with the Naonis & Donatello Ensemble, the National Chamber Orchestra of Armenia, and return engagements with Kammerorchester Arpeggione (Austria) and the San Remo Philharmonic Orchestra (Italy). In the last four seasons he has led Sinfonia Toronto in a South American tour with concerts in Peru, Argentina and Uruguay as well as a ten-concert tour in China.
Maestro Arman has brought capacity crowds to their feet on three continents. He has appeared in France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Belgium, Spain, Hungary, Portugal, Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Romania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Montenegro, Turkey, Armenia, South Korea, Mexico and throughout the United States and Canada.
Critics on both sides of the Atlantic have been unanimous in their praise. Pravda hailed Maestro Arman as a "fascinating and striking musical personality," while the Broadcast Review in Prague reported "a spirited and nobly rounded performance."
Born to Armenian parents in Istanbul, he played his first violin recital at the age of 13. After arriving in the United States on a Disney Foundation scholarship, he concertized from coast to coast, appearing in major US cities as well as at prestigious music festivals in Tanglewood, Spoleto, New York and Florida. After several seasons of leading US orchestras as concertmaster, he began a conducting career that has taken him all over the world.
In 1982 Nurhan Arman moved to Canada to accept the post of Music Director of the North Bay Symphony and the Northern Music Festival. In 1987 he was named Music Director of Symphony New Brunswick which he swiftly built into a major regional resource. In March of 1993 Maestro Arman was appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the Yerevan Symphony in Armenia. In 1998 Maestro Arman founded Sinfonia Toronto, now considered one of Canada’s finest chamber orchestras.
Maestro Arman has served as an adjudicator on many prominent panels, including the International Fitelberg Conducting Competition in Poland, the Canada Council Conducting Competition and the Heinz Unger Competition. He has taught conducting at New York's Brockport Festival, at the Florida Festival, and in Canada at the Orford Arts Centre, Northern Music Festival as well as the Royal Conservatory of Music.
Maestro Arman has recorded for CBC Radio, PBS, Radio Moscow, Polish Broadcasting, Czech Radio, Korean Broadcasting, Lithuanian TV, Armenian Radio and TV. His recording ‘Flanders Fields’ CD with Sinfonia Toronto has won Canada’s Juno award. During 2023 two more CDs will be reissued featuring premiere recordings of works by four Canadian composers.
Maestro Arman’s career has taken him around the world, guest-conducting orchestras including the Moscow Philharmonic, State Hermitage Orchestra St. Petersburg, Volgograd Symphony, Belgrade Philharmonic, Filarmonica Italiana, Orchestra Pomeriggi Musicali, Florence Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra da Camera Milano Classica, Orchestra Sinfonica di San Remo, Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano, Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana, Orchestra Sinfonica Giacchino Rossini, Orchestra Sinfonico di Lecce, Chamber Orchestra del Teatro Olimpico, Wroclaw Philharmonic Orchestra Leopoldinum, Witold Lutoslawsky Chamber Philharmonic, Kharkov Philharmonic, Vojvodina Symphony, Sergipe Philharmonic of Brazil, Nordbohmische Philharmonie Teplice, Deutsches Kammerorchester Frankfurt, Radomska Orkiestra Kameralna, Bellas Artes Chamber Orchestra of Mexico City, Orchestra Extremadura (Spain), Lisbon Metropolitan Orchestra, Hungarian Philharmonic, Lithuanian Philharmonic, l'Orchestre Regional d'Ile de France, Bohemian Festival Orchestra, Pilsen Radio Symphony, Silesian State Philharmonic, Denver Chamber Orchestra, Armenian Philharmonic, Bucharest Philharmonic, Brasov Philharmonic, Filarmonica Moldova, Filarmonica Sibiu, Slovak (Kosice) Philharmonic, Orquestra Clássica da Madeira, Orquesta da Camaro Amazonas of Brazil, Deutsches Kammerorchester on tour at the Ljubljana Summer Music Festival, Karlsbad Symphony, Rivne Chamber Orchestra, Grand Orchestre de l'Harmonie (Belgium), Pusan Symphony, National Arts Centre Orchestra, KitchenerWaterloo Symphony, Orchestra London, Saskatoon Symphony and many others.