Levon Parikian’s first musical influence was his father, the renowned violinist Manoug Parikian, whose musicianship and experience as soloist, chamber musician and orchestral leader instilled in Levon from an early age a deep appreciation of the tradition of musical performance.
While studying timpani and percussion at the Royal Academy of Music, Levon developed his interest in conducting, and subsequently studied privately with Michael Rose and David Parry. Following further study with George Hurst, and at his encouragement, Levon auditioned successfully for a position in Ilya Musin’s class at the St. Petersburg conservatoire. Here he gained an insight into Musin’s rigorous technique of conducting, which has influenced generations of Russian conductors.
Since his return from Russia, Levon has pursued a freelance conducting career, and is much in demand as Guest Conductor with orchestras in Britain. He currently holds Principal Conductor posts with several London-based orchestras, and the City of Oxford Orchestra. He is also very committed to training young musicians and holds posts at the Junior Department of the Royal College of Music and Royal Holloway University, where he also teaches conducting. Levon is Artistic Director of The Rehearsal Orchestra, which recently celebrated its 50th anniversary season.
Levon Parikian has been one of Camden Chamber Orchestra's regular conductors since 2000, and our Musical Director since 2004.