Haig Utidjian

Date of birth: 23 November, 1966
Sex: male
Marital status: single
Nationality: British
Languages spoken: English and Armenian (bilingual), Greek, French, Czech (fluent), some knowledge of Italian
Present address: Tietzovi, Nam. Barikad 4, 130 00 Praha 3 - Zizkov, Czech Republic
E-mail address: hutidjian@yahoo.com

Educational Qualifications

Doctoral: revising Ph.D. thesis on Quasi-decentralised  H-infinity Control Systems (Cambridge University) using facilities at the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague, on a part-time basis
Masters: M.Sc. (London Univ.), DIC (Imperial College); masters-level postgraduate qualification in Conducting (Guildhall School of Music and Drama)
Bachelors: B.Sc. in Control Engineering with First Class Honours (Sussex University)
GCE: 3 Grade "A"s and 1 "B" at A-level, 9 Grade "A"s and 1 "B" at O-level (London Board); Grade 8 Distinction in both Pianoforte Playing and the Theory of Music (Assoc. Board, Royal Schools of Music)
Additional: certificates testifying attendance at various academic, industrial, musical and language courses, etc.; conference publications.

Awards, Scholarships and other Honours

• Bob Harding Bursary for Young Conductors, 1995-1996
• Ricordi Conducting Prize, 1995
• Bursary, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, 1994-1995
• Turner Fund Award, Pembroke College, Cambridge University, 1993
• Cambridge Commonwealth Trust Bursary, 1989-1992
• ORS Award (Committee of the Vice-Chancellors and Principals of the Universities of the UK), 1989-1992
• Fellowship of the Cambridge Philosophical Society (1989-)
• Fellowship of the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust (1990-)
• Mars Electronics International Prize, in recognition of the best final-year undergraduate dissertation, 1988
• Membership of the Association of British Choral Directors (1986-)
• Choral Scholarship, University of Sussex (1985-1986)
• Honorary Scholarship, The English School, Nicosia (1978)

• Excellent oral and written communication skills and linguistic facility
• Ability to communicate at all levels in both technical and non-technical capacities
• Persuasiveness and confidence as public speaker, equally at ease managing sizeable groups and smaller formations
• Patience and effectiveness as a trainer, able to lead, control, motivate and inspire
• Experience of software and hardware: programming in languages ranging from Z80 machine code to Modula-2, web-page design, fluency in use of LaTex, Matlab, Simulink and other specialised, state-of-the-art toolboxes
• Overseas experience incl. Eastern Europe, Soviet Union, Italy, France, Belgium, Switzerland and the Levant; understanding and appreciation of, and sensitivity towards, variety of cultures and of ways of transacting business
• Experience in writing programme-notes, press-releases, handling publicity in the local media, writing technical reports, manuals and international symposium publications
• Highly adaptable to vicissitudes of working environment and changing circumstances; integrates quickly, becoming "part of the team"
• Ability to move rapidly between topics; persistence coupled with readiness to change field of activity

• 1999-: Assistant Conductor at the Municipal Theatre of Usti nad Labem; entrusted with leadership of  cast of several hundred (comprising orchestra, chorus, dancers and solo singers) at major Continental Opera House; satisfaction with quality of my work led to guest-conducting engagements with North Bohemian Philharmonic and Collegium Musicum, of which shortly thereafter elected Principal Conductor
• 2000: Served as artistic liaison between the Opera Company of the University of British Columbia and the Municipal Theatre of Usti nad Labem during the former's visit to Usti, Teplice and Prague; translating, assisting, mediating and "smooting the way", as well as serving as Guest Conductor with the Company; played  major role in fostering fragile but mutually-beneficial relationship of vital importance to the Theatre
• 2000-: Assisted US businessman and investor in Prague by attending occasional consultations with tax advisor and solicitor, translating (between Czech and English) and facilitating effective communication between both sides
• 1999-: Principal Conductor of Prague International Youth Orchestra - motivating and unifying members from the international community in Prague, from widely-varying backgrounds and age groups
• 1998-2000: Extensive engagements conducting leading Czech professional orchestras including the Prague Philharmonia, the Bohemian Chamber Orchestra of Pardubice, the West Bohemian Symphony Orchestra, the North Bohemian Philharmonic Teplice, the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra, in addition to similar work in Italy, France and England
• 1995-1996: Assistant Conductor, Havant and District Orchestral Society
• 1994-1995: Assistant Conductor, Opera Department, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, crucially contributing to School's nationally-acclaimed productions, entrusted with production rehearsals and training chorus
• 1993: Artistic and administrative Director of the Maderna Festival - the only event of its kind in the world, marking the twentieth anniversary of the composer's death
• 1991-1994: Teaching for several Colleges at Cambridge University (St. John's, Selwyn, Robinson, Newnham and Pembroke) as Supervisor to final-year students in specialist options such as Nonlinear Dynamical Systems
• 1989-1991: Teaching for Cambridge University Engineering Department as Demonstrator for Control Laboratories, in charge of classes of twelve undergraduates each week, giving brief lectures, responsible for smooth running of labs, providing demonstrations of use of apparatus and detailed supervision during experiments, and assessing and marking student scripts
• Musical Director of wide variety of student and amateur choral and orchestral organisations, gaining valuable managerial, administrative, marketing, fund-raising and committee experience
• Thriving teaching practices in Conducting and English

• Organising fund-raising charity events, in support of (for instance) St. Bartholomew's Hospital's Surgical Fund and their League of Nurses' Benevolent Fund, the Musicians' Benevolent Fund, Kulukundis House (a disabled hostel on the campus of Sussex University), and the victims of the Armenian earthquake
• Voluntary work at Brookfields Hospital, Cambridge
• Swimming, weight-lifting, Movement and the Alexander Technique
• Philosophy and theology - planning a new translation of the Neoplatonic writings attributed to St. Dionysius the Areopagite, based on earliest extant Greek and Armenian sources
• Foreign and classical languages, twentieth-century European literature