Reviews

“Achieving a satisfying and professional balance of purpose of orchestra, chorus, and soloists is the sensible approach that Maestro Aram Demirjian embraced for a performance this past Sunday afternoon at the Tennessee Theatre by the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra along with the Knoxville Choral Society.” —Arts Knoxville, December 2024

“Guest conductor Aram Demirjian was engaging and fun to watch” —The Laurel Outlook, October 2024

“The entire evening was a delight. Maestro Aram Demirjian paired Tchaikovsky with Brahms’ Symphony #3 and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Ballade in A Minor, Op. 33. Demirjian was always an attentive partner in the concerto, his own string training evident as he seemed to anticipate every moment Huang wanted a little room or some forward momentum. Under Demirjian’s baton, the orchestra played with a wonderful combination of confidence and spontaneity. Being able to present an artist of Huang’s stature, let alone provide him with a first-class collaboration, is no small feat. The KSO is a source of great pride in the community, and rightfully so.” —Violinist.com, October 2024

“Turning the corner coming out of that cadenza, Maestro Aram Demirjian created a gorgeously transcendent moment with a gentleness […] that was achingly beautiful. […] Huang, Demirjian, and the orchestra maintained a position of half mystery/half serenity in the second movement—a Canzonetta: Andante. […] Demirjian guided the performance within a fairly wide range of kinetic and dynamic boundaries, the work’s delightful rhythm and tempo energies fully finessed."” —Arts Knoxville, October 2024

“Although “Fate Knocks on the Door” is essential to understanding the Allegro con brio first movement, it is the composer’s infinitely varying conversation between strings and winds that define Beethoven tonality—and it is with this back and forth of string comment and countering woodwind retort that Demirjian and the orchestra excel at brilliantly.” —Arts Knoxville, September 2024

“The fact that KSO audiences not only seem to accept innovative programing, but also find that they enjoy the experience of the very new when presented in the proper context, is a notable accomplishment of Maestro Demirjian.” —Arts Knoxville, February 2024

“Demirjian guided the orchestra in a lush performance of Rachmaninoff’s deeply romantic and melodic work that pulsates from the agitated opening passage to gorgeously lush strings that soar against the quiet rumble of timpani and muted horns. Demirjian made us hold our breath as the strings soared before bursting in a flurry of energy. […] Throughout the hourlong symphony, Demirjian balanced the energetic bursts with Rachmaninoff’s lush singing melodies including the familiar adagio that’s repeated a couple of times.” —Tuscon.com, February 2024

“KSO Music Director Aram Demirjian was a worthy partner to Jackiw, attentive at every turn and matching his youthful enthusiasm bounce for bounce. The orchestra played with a sparkling confidence befitting a soloist of this stature” —Violinist.com, October 2023

"Demirjian and the orchestra embraced [Clyne's] luscious, often cacophonous smushing of styles and rhythms that alternated with glee between tradition and the avant-garde. […] [Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony] arrived with Demirjian (conducting without a score) and the KSO at the Tennessee Theatre like a breath of fresh, country air... [with] the orchestra finding an ending that is something of a symbolic mirror to the beginning: ebullient, happy, and with the glow of accomplishment." —Arts Knoxville, October 2023

“Shaub, Demirjian, and orchestra embraced this “Turkish style” with confident relish and exuberance. […] the work depends on playfulness and spirit, a quality that Demirjian and the orchestra wove into a musical cloth of strength sans heaviness—a perfect recipe for an afternoon revelation.” —Arts Knoxville, September 2023

“Demirjian and the orchestra … rendered a crisp, clever, and energetic Eighth that had all the spicy tempo, subtle humor, and ingenuity that [Beethoven] intended.” —Arts Knoxville, May 2023

“Demirjian and the orchestra offered up a performance that was every bit the satisfying expansive journey, complete with brief side trips along the way, through music of deep forest and sunlit clearings, making way for the occasional vistas that majestically appear through the trees… Demirjian managed the layers of theme on theme with skill, allowing the expectations to grow.” —Arts Knoxville, March 2023

“the particular energy of this concert could also be attributed to first-time guest conductor Aram Demirjian, music director of the Knoxville Symphony. He’s been praised at home for his enthusiastic, even electric performances. Those qualities came across here.” —San Francisco Classical Voice, March 2023

“Kagawa and Demirjian took a beautifully introspective point of view with both a measured tempo and subtle dynamics, allowing the lyricism to flow elegantly rather than tumble… a lovely outing for Demirjian and the orchestra” —Arts Knoxville, March 2023

“Pouliot and Demirjian, building on their careful give and take throughout the piece, found a magic moment in the delivery of that finale—an accelerando on steroids, it seemed—in which orchestra and violinist each nudged the other faster and faster in tempo until the exhilaration was almost unbearably orgasmic. With this electric moment, I admit to a brief pang of quasi-schadenfreude for any KSO concertgoer who chose to sit out this concert.” —Arts Knoxville, February 2023

“Demirjian took an enjoyably energetic tempo in the opening Sinfonia, setting the stage for appropriately messaging the tempi throughout.” —Arts Knoxville, November 2022

“Demirjian and the orchestra turned in an excellent performance that was equal parts enthusiasm and a focused attention to instrumental balance and color” —Arts Knoxville, November 2022

“The key to the Grieg concerto in the 21st Century lies in finding a fresh point of view, and that is exactly what Albright and Demirjian did. […] Demirjian, conducting without a score, was obviously intent on giving the work freshness and intensity. And in fact, that is exactly what he achieved. Demirjian moved through the composer’s ideas, moods, and transitions between ideas, with an insistent painterly purpose, an attitude that resulted in the musical conversation between orchestra and audience being one of wit, intellect, and sonic surprises.” —Arts Knoxville, September 2022

“Harmony of both kinds was in abundance in all four quarters of Demirjian’s innovative program […] Binding these disparate works together was Mr. Demirjian’s infectious conducting […] Mr. Demirjian exhibited graceful gestures on the podium, with a smoothly flowing body language that was easy to read. The performance was wonderfully sustained” —Classical Sonoma, February 2022

“the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra and its music director, Aram Demirjian […] have not only been adding contemporary women composers to their programs, but are also bringing deserving composers like Farrenc—and their large scale works—to the attention of 21st Century audiences.” —Arts Knoxville, February 2022

“Demirjian and the orchestra radiated lyrical warmth” —Arts Knoxville, January 2022

“[an] impressive [star]. Making his debut on the San Diego podium, conductor Aram Demirjian, Music Director of the Knoxville Symphony, elicited dramatic, incisive performances from the orchestra […] Demirjian took full advantage of the sound system’s acuity with his majestic but rigorously detailed account of the Fifth Symphony. [...] He gave us the crisp martial beat of the Scherzo while underscoring the movement’s mysterious foreboding. [...] Demirjian maintained meticulous ensemble unity at every dynamic level, making all those incessant repeated chords the hammer that forged the sword of tempered perfection.” —San Diego Story, August 2021

“the chemistry between Demirjian and the orchestra seemed perfect. He shaped the performance carefully but with an ear toward [Firebird’s] story line, and the orchestra responded with a vibrant, texturally transparent account. Standing ovations often seem indiscriminately granted at the orchestra’s concerts, but the players, and Demirjian, earned this one” —Portland Press Herald, February 2020

“This stunningly articulate performance of the “Titan” clearly won over any potential skeptics with its strong point of view in which the expansiveness was modulated with thematic intrigues and clever punctuations in texture, cadence, and dynamics. The symphony’s themes, drawn in large part from folk songs and the composer’s own “Songs of a Wayfarer”, are also responsible for the work’s accessibility, keeping the work tethered to earth and gently, but firmly, guiding the listener.” —Arts Knoxville, January 2020

“It’s only natural, then, that maestro Demirjian feels an affection for the Beethoven Seventh, an emotion obviously shared by the orchestra players, and one that vigorously set the stage for what was one of the most dynamically sublime and nuanced performances that I have witnessed from the orchestra to date. Part of that affection displayed was the belief in energetic tempos and a crisp rhythmic drive that sets off the clever conversational banter, exquisitely accomplished with terrific ensemble-ness between the woodwinds, and supported by a similarly enchanting layering of string textures.” —Arts Knoxville, November 2019

“The string honey of the afternoon came from Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings […] Demirjian immediately made it clear this was not to be a contemplative reading, but instead one of energy and tonal depth that made use of the rich string sonority built majestically in the most positive way. While the orchestra’s performance of the Elégie movement was hauntingly emotional, the return of Tchaikovsky’s opening theme in the finale felt pivotal—the essence of the successful unifying dramatic denouement that artists and musicians strive for, but few ever achieve.” —Arts Knoxville, October 2019

“If works of music were living human beings, they would no doubt be nervous, if not outright frightened, to be paired on a concert with Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Yet, the pairing of contemporary works with Beethoven’s brilliantly majestic and epic final symphony has become a fairly common occurrence for 21st Century orchestras, and for probably sound programming reasons. That was the wildly successful approach taken by the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra’s music director Aram Demirjian in this weekend’s Masterworks concerts in which the evening’s works were stylistic opposites by their sonic appearances, but were bound together by a philosophical theme, one that is inarguably relevant to the contemporary world […] On this occasion of the Ninth, the KSO gave the audience what they came for—a feast of emotions and well-played performances across the orchestra. Demirjian built the excitement gradually on Friday evening, extracting warmth and dramatic details in the first two movements with a careful ear for expressive dynamics. The third movement, Adagio, was simply sublime in the emerging details and vibrant personality.” —Arts Knoxville, April 2019

“superbly conducted by Aram Demirjian, a fleet young artist with an impressive list of credits” —WTTW: Chicago Tonight, September 2018

“Under the graceful and energetic direction of guest conductor Aram Demirjian, the Sarasota Orchestra presented an outstanding program Saturday evening, a demanding concert that encompassed several centuries and many styles, from 18th century courtly music to a big band score from today.” —Sarasota Herald-Tribune, May 2018

“During the selection of the new music director for the Knoxville Symphony, the KSO selection committee chose young conductor Aram Demirjian and charged him with shaking things up and making the KSO’s concerts the exhibition hall of living music. […] They got what they paid for in one huge installment at Thursday night’s KSO masterworks concert at the Tennessee Theatre.” —KnoxTN Today, January 2018

“this was a quietly euphoric performance of Appalachian Spring—just what an anxious nation needed.” —Knoxville Mercury, November 2016