Comments by senior colleagues, and reviews

"A musician through-and-through"

Hugues Cuenod

"... un comportamento professionale assai raro fra i miei colleghi italiani."

Guido Turchi

"... an excellent musician"

Christopher Seaman

"Haig Utidjian is a very musical conductor with a considerable technique ... he will become a very successful conductor."

Vilem Tausky

"... Utidjian impressed me with his secure and well led performance of Birtwistle's `Silbury Air'... an infectious enthusiasm which transmits itself to his players."

Simon Bainbridge

"... he has excelled particularly in contemporary repertoire ... conducted a committed and profoundly moving performance of `Silbury Air' by Sir Harrison Birtwistle ... a most promising young conductor."

Robert Saxton (Head of Composition, Guildhall School of Music and Drama)

"... a most helpful and reliable colleague. In addition he has impressed me with his analytical acumen and general level of technical expertise."

Clive Timms (Head of Opera Studies, Guildhall School of Music and Drama)

"Haig Utidjian has shown great capacities as a conductor and I can warmly recommend him."

Ira Wauters (Secretary General and Orchestral Manager, Belgian National Youth Orchestra)

"... it is no coincidence that Giulini is also the Honorary President of the Cambridge University Beethoven Society ... great dedication ... His attention to detail allows Utidjian to concentrate on the interpretation of pieces rather than merely playing them. Good preparation allows Cambridge's most talented and gifted instrumentalists to develop in a professional atmosphere and achieve some admirable performances ..." (Varsity, 23 October 1992)

" ... Haig Utidjian had certainly assembled the cream of Cambridge instrumentalists ... time had been spent on balancing the orchestra's individual sections into a harmonious whole ... really allowed the orchestra to develop a warm atmosphere ... a fulfilling evening ..." (Varsity, 22 January 1993)

"... a moving account ... conductor Haig Utidjian drew enchanted sounds from a responsive and disciplined ensemble ... inspiring." (Varsity, 12 November 1993)

"... Yet the factor which made this concert and this ensemble stand out amongst the vast ocean of excellent concerts and ensembles ... was undoubtedly the conductor ... He conducts with sensitivity, intelligence and love ... The Ensemble Duparc with Haig Utidjian looks set for a fertile and exciting future." (Varsity, 21 January 1994)

"... After such splendours, the Beethoven Symphony No. 4 was going to have to be good - and it was ... I certainly heard it with new ears." (Jersey Evening Post, 16 May 1995)

"... his authority was immediately apparent in the crisp and `tight' sound he achieved with the minimum of gesture ... we were in Ludwigland ... The strong Beethoven sense of purpose was sustained to the final decisive chords." (The Guernsey Evening Press, 30 May 1995)

"... and Mozart's Symphony No. 29 was ably conducted by Haig Utidjian ...a splendid evening." (The Portsmouth News, 13 May 1996)

"... Haig Utidjian took over for the Glazunov violin concerto, economically securing a rhythmically vital response to Rasma Lielmane's indulgence of the music's lush romanticism." (The Portsmouth News, 8 July 1996)

"The concert opened with a noble, majestic account of Mozart's rarely-heard symphony No. 34 in C... The Barbican Chamber Orchestra and Utidjian revelled in the grace and transparency of Mozart's writing, but also luxuriated in its fuller sonorities, thrillingly enhanced by the ambience of the Great Hall. In the second movement Utidjian indulged in an unashamedly romantic interpretation, expansive, searching as well as playful. Each phrase was lovingly shaped, moulded and savoured to the full, sustained by a caressingly warm, fluid sound throughout - not least from the Barbican Chamber Orchestra's remarkably honey-toned viola section... In Ravel's "Tzigane" ... She was accompanied alertly and sympathetically by conductor and orchestra..." (The Link, August 1997)

"It was with great interest that I went to the concert in Martinu Hall in which the West Bohemian Symphony Orchestra appeared with the conductor Haig Utidjian ... The conductor was extremely well attuned to the fairy-tale world of Suk's music ["Pohadka"] and he realised the beautiful, melodically rich work of the Czech composer convincingly and with sensitivity towards the subtle shades of this wonderful score. Tempi had been sensibly chosen; I felt no disparity of any kind with the customary conception of our own interpreters ... Equally, Chausson's work ["Poeme de l'Amour et de la Mer"] - otherwise little known here - had its unquestionable interpretative class ... In my judgement the orchestra gave one of its best ever performances in Prague's Martinu Hall ... The conductor's performance bore all the marks of meticulous preparation. I congratulate him and wish him further artistic successes." (Zdenek Sestak, editor of the Supraphon score of Suk's "Pohadka", February 2000)