Samuel Barsegian

Samuel Barsegian started playing the violin at the age of 6, and at the age of 16, he switched to the viola. He studied at the Yerevan State Conservatory, the Freiburg School of Music in Germany under Professor Kim Kashkashian, and at the Julliard School under Karen Tuttle. Between 1995 and 1998, Samuel received the tutelage of Rudolf Barshai in both the viola and conducting. He also studied conducting with Lawrence Foster, and received lessons from David Zinman, Gilbert Warga, Bertrand De Billy, Genady Rozdestvensky, Jukka-Pekka Saraste and many more great conductors.

For ten years, Samuel was the principal violist of the Royal Flemish Philharmonic Orchestra in Antwerp. In 2008, he moved to Lisbon, where he was appointed principal viola of the Gulbenkian Orchestra. He made his conducting debut with the Gulbenkian orchestra in 2013. He is the founder of the Lisbon Chamber Orchestra, where he is the chief conductor and artistic director. He is the guest principal violist of the Porto Symphony Orchestra (Casa de Música) and Tenerife Symphony Orchestra in the Canary Islands. He currently holds a position of viola professor at the Escola Superior de Música in Lisbon. Samuel speaks 6 languages: Armenian, Dutch, English, German, Russian and Portuguese language.