Armenian Conductor and Violinist Wife File Rival Complaints

Armenian conductor Eduard Topchyan and his wife, violinist Anush Nikoghosyan, have filed complaints accusing one another of physical violence.

An account published on 18 September said proceedings arising from Nikoghosyan’s complaint had been discontinued. Criminal proceedings had been opened following Topchyan’s complaint, and a forensic medical examination had been ordered. Its findings were still outstanding at that point, and no one had been charged.

Those details describe the position reported in September. They do not establish the truth of either allegation, and the discontinuation of one set of proceedings should not be taken as proof that a complaint was false. No verified subsequent outcome is included in this account.

Topchyan is artistic director and principal conductor of the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra, a position he has held since 2000. He initially studied violin in Yerevan before developing his conducting career, receiving guidance from Ohan Durian. In 1991, he helped establish the Serenade Chamber Orchestra.

Nikoghosyan was born in Yerevan in 1989 and began learning the violin at five. At ten, she appeared as a soloist with the national philharmonic in Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto. Her later studies in Munich included work with Christoph Poppen and Julia Fischer, and she graduated with distinction in 2015.

The orchestra at the centre of their professional association traces its history to 1925 and the work of Arshak Adamian and Alexander Spendiaryan. Based at Yerevan’s Aram Khachaturian Concert Hall, it is a major institution in Armenia’s musical life, presenting symphonic programmes and international guest artists.

The complaints concern two prominent musicians, but their professional standing supplies context rather than evidence. The available account leaves the allegations unresolved and provides no basis for presenting either party as having been convicted of an offence.