Garo Avessian

Garo Avessian

Born in Beirut, Garo Avessian is the First & Grand Prize Winner of the 14th Danube International Conducting Masterclass and Competition (Budapest, 2018). He is a conductor and composer known especially for his chamber works. His compositions, published by Da Vinci Publishing, have been performed across Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.

Mr. Avessian began his piano studies in 1992 and pursued composition, harmony, music theory, and orchestration in Beirut. From 2001 to 2006, he studied Composition with Ashot Zohrabyan and from 2003 to 2007, Symphonic and Opera Conducting with Aram Gharabekyan at the Yerevan State Conservatory named after Komitas, earning master’s degrees in both disciplines.

Among his accolades, Avessian received Third Prize in the Lazarus Saryan Composition Competition (Yerevan, 2004) for Three Kūchak Hayrens. In 2005, he was awarded the Presidential Medal in Armenia for his outstanding health and was cast in Gor Vardanyan’s film Destiny. In 2008, he was appointed by Dr. Walid Gholmieh to conduct the Lebanese Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO). His debut with the LPO in October that year received wide critical acclaim from both audience and press.

Highlights of his international engagements include a 2013 collaboration with the Australian Embassy in Beirut, conducting the LPO with flutist Ana de la Vega in the second-ever performance of Mysliveček’s Flute Concerto in Lebanon. In 2014, he was selected to participate in an international masterclass in Chicago with Donald Schleicher and Russell Miller. In 2016, in collaboration with the Uruguayan Embassy, he conducted a program of Uruguayan tangos with the LPO—another national first.

In July 2017, he conducted the opening concert of the International Tyre Festival with composer Jamal Bou Hosn. The following year, he earned top honors again at the Danube Competition in Budapest. In 2019, he was awarded a Diploma of Special Commendation following a masterclass in London with Achim Holub and the London Classical Soloists.

Avessian is currently pursuing his doctoral thesis at the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Anna Astryan, focusing on the Lebanese-Armenian composer Boghos Gelalian. Alongside his concert work with the LPO, in April 2022 he conducted the world premiere of the first Lebanese Arabic oratorio, From Supper to Resurrection.

He has guest-conducted numerous orchestras, including the Danube Symphony Orchestra (Budapest), the Syrian National Symphony Orchestra (2021 & 2022), the National Chamber Orchestra of Armenia (2022), the Sibiu State Philharmonic Orchestra at the UNESCO/Elite Art Festival Classics for Pleasure (Transylvania, 2022), and the Ploiești Philharmonic Orchestra (Romania, 2022).

In February 2024, Avessian returned to Budapest for two educational concerts with the Danube Symphony Orchestra at the Cultural Center and the Natural History Museum. That same year, he was appointed to the jury of the 28th International Choral Competition of Preveza in Greece.

Now based in Los Angeles, Garo Avessian is actively collaborating with musicians, ensembles, and institutions across a wide range of genres. He is also pleased to be part of the Sheet Music Plus and Sheet Music Direct communities, where he shares his original works and arrangements, and is open to further artistic partnerships and collaborations through these platforms.