Tigran Arakelyan to Host New Radio Show on KPTZ in Washington State

KPTZ Radio Port Townsend has announced new weekly music program called Exploring Music, hosted by Tigran Arakelyan, Artistic Director and Conductor of the Port Townsend Symphony. The show will air every Sunday from 3-4PM. Tigran will be sharing music that has inspired him throughout the years, and also playing new discoveries, in all genres.

“I am thrilled to join the KPTZ family as a host. I have been a guest numerous times since April of 2017 and love listening to KPTZ’s diverse programming. I want to thank Phil Andrus (longtime KPTZ host) for his support and encouragement during the past few years. Although my passion and work are in classical music, I enjoy a wide variety of genres. Growing up in post-Soviet Armenia and Los Angeles, I was exposed to genres ranging from folk, jazz and pop to rock, classical, hip-hop and more. On this show I will share music that has inspired me throughout the years but will also challenge myself to discover new works in all genres to share with all of you. There will be occasional guests from the vibrant Port Townsend arts scene or artists who are visiting to perform.” -Tigran Arakelyan, DJ Host of Exploring Music.

“Tigran Arakelyan’s wide reach across various genres of music brings the kind of artistic stretch I like on KPTZ. He can include classical to jazz to folk genres, and go out to the experimental. Yet it all makes sense together.” -Larry Stein, KPTZ Director of Programming.

Tigran Arakelyan is an Armenian-American conductor and podcaster. He is the Music Director of Northwest Mahler Festival, the Port Townsend Symphony and Assistant Conductor of California Philharmonic. As the Music Director of Federal Way Youth Symphony and the Bainbridge Youth Orchestras, he has grown both organizations to the highest youth enrollment in history. Recently, he made his Walt Disney Concert Hall conducting debut and has played alongside Sir James Galway during his induction into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. Tigran won awards from The American Prize and at the Global Music Awards. He has programmed diverse concerts with works by William Grant Still, Amy Beach, Alma Mahler, Fanny Mendelssohn, Vasily Kalinnikov and conducted regional premieres by renowned composers Paul Hindemith, Keith Jarrett and James Cohn, among others. Since 2009, Tigran has taken his orchestras to many unconventional venues from bars and cideries to cafes and homeless shelters. Invited by Maestro Morlot, Tigran earned the Doctor of Musical Arts in conducting from the University of Washington where he was the first student in the inaugural class of Ludovic Morlot and David A. Rahbee. As the host of Let’s Talk Off The Podium podcast (over 120 episodes), he interviewed legendary musicians such as: Evelyn Glennie, George Walker, Mark O’Connor, Christian McBride, David Harrington (Kronos Quartet), Richard Stoltzman, Ludovic Morlot, Sharon Isbin, Vijay Iyer, Christopher Theofanidis, and a long list of others.