Sergey Smbatyan suspended from Malta Philharmonic

The Malta Philharmonic Orchestra suspended its principal conductor, Sergey Smbatyan, following media reports of his arrest in Armenia alongside his father, the former ambassador of Armenia to Israel, in connection with an alleged case of fraud.

Sergey Smbatyan, who founded the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra in 2005, has been suspended from his role as principal conductor with the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO) due to the investigation, having held the role since January 2022.

The MPO’s acting CEO, Christopher Muscat has said, in a statement released yesterday (30 July), that: ‘Without entering into the merits of the case, and without any prejudice to anything or anyone, the MPO is suspending its working relationship with Maestro Smbatyan with immediate effect. The MPO is following the case very closely to ascertain the facts. A final decision in respect of this case will be taken once the relevant facts and circumstances are ascertained.’

According to reports, the arrest has been made by the Armenian general prosecutor’s office in connection with actions by Sochocenter - a company allegedly owned by the Smbatyan family - which was given a parcel of land in the Armenian capital of Yerevan to develop into an educational complex.

Promising to build a concert hall and amenities for the city’s Tchaikovsky Music School as well as a multi-functional space in honour of the 500th anniversary of Armenian printing, the company allegedly began instead to build a business centre, leading the Armenian general prosecutor’s office to label the project as ‘fraudulent’ and the land allotted to the Yerevan Tchaikovsky Music School as ‘stolen’, with an alleged loss of 1 billion drams (£2,014,567) to the state.