Prof. Frantisek VAJNAR
To whom it may concern:
Re: Haig Utidjian
Haig Utidjian worked with me in the winter semester of 1999-2000 on a graduate attachment under my supervision at the Conducting Department of the Music Faculty of the Prague Academy of Performing Arts, and has been regularly consulting with me over the last two years, on opera and on Czech symphonic repertoire.
During our collaboration he has consistently shown himself to be an intelligent and cultured musician of high professional ideals, and has not only refined his technique but also broadened his range of expertise by absorbing our interpretative traditions of Czech music. I have also been in attendance whilst he was rehearsing professional ensembles in preparation for public performances in Prague and elsewhere, embracing both Czech and foreign works, and have been present at two of his concerts, which he conducted with great success, earning also the warm appreciation of the whole orchestra.
Haig Utidjian is a conductor of outstanding musicality and interpretative maturity. He is a sensitive and imaginative musician, with a keen ear for beauty of sound and a highly-developed sense of line and phrasing. He has a rare understanding of the human voice, and offers admirable leadership and support as well as sympathetic accompaniment to his singers. His professional demeanour earns respect and goodwill, and he is adaptable without compromising standards. He communicates his interpretative vision clearly and persuasively, and evinces a special aptitude and true affinity for Czech music.
This gifted conductor deserves further artistic successes, and I wish him all the best in his career.
[signed]
Frantisek Vajnar