Raffi Armenian

Raffi Armenian was born in Cairo, Egypt in 1942 and immigrated to Canada in 1969.

Armenian was the Artistic Director of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony from 1971 to 1993. He transformed a community orchestra into a world-class professional symphony. In 1974, its professional core, the Canadian Chamber Ensemble, was formed by Armenian and it became recognized as one of the premier ensembles in North America with tours that took it all over the world.

Recognizing the need for a performance space that would complement the professional orchestra, Armenian was instrumental in the building of the Centre in the Square in Kitchener, one of Canada’s finest performance halls where opera, choral, ballet, theatre and other groups perform.

Armenian’s work has been recognized with countless honours including an Emmy Award Nomination for a television opera starring Maureen Forrester. He is a Member of the Order of Canada and has honorary doctorates from the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University.

In 1999 he became Director of Orchestral Studies at the University of Toronto. He has also held several other professorships in Canada and Europe.