Our Conductor

Dr. Suren Petrosyan is in his second season as Artistic Director and Conductor of the Shoals Symphony at UNA. Dr. Petrosyan also serves as Assistant Professor of Music at the University of North Alabama, conducting the University Orchestra and teaching cello. Prior to his appointment at UNA, he served as Music Director and Conductor of the Mason Symphony in Michigan; he conducted orchestras and taught cello at Arkansas State University, at Creighton University, and at Alma College. He has conducted concerts with symphony and chamber orchestras in Germany, France, Armenia, Canada, and the United States. Passionate about education, Dr. Petrosyan spends each summer at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp where he serves as Assistant Conductor of the Blue Lake Opera, as well as teaches cello and conducts faculty and student ensembles. In the Summer of 2024 Dr. Petrosyan will be leading the Blue Lake International Youth Orchestra touring France, Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, and Germany.

As an active cellist, Dr. Petrosyan has played with the Omaha Symphony, Arkansas Symphony, Sioux City Symphony, Texarkana Symphony, and many others, and regularly performs as a soloist and chamber musician around the country. He has performed as soloist with the Salisbury Symphony Orchestra in Maryland with Aram Khachaturian’s Concerto Rhapsody for Cello and Orchestra, and has also performed and taught masterclasses at Webster University, Arkansas State University, Creighton University, Louisiana Tech, the University of Louisiana at Monroe, the Music by Women Festival, and at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp’s Summer Arts Festival. As an active clinician Dr. Petrosyan makes regular visits to schools, and most recently served as conductor of the Alabama Orchestra Association’s North Region Symphony Orchestra. 

Dr. Petrosyan holds degrees in Orchestral Conducting and Cello Performance from the Yerevan State Conservatory in Armenia and Michigan State University.