Conductors

Born in 1983, Conductor Valid Ağayev is originally from Baku, Azerbaijan.  

Valid Ağayev attended a specialized music school, and then studied violin at the State Music  Academy in Baku and earned a Bachelor of Music cum laude in 2006. In 2008, he  achieved Master of Music also with honours. During his studies as a violinist in Azerbaijan,  Valid Ağayev took the opportunity to take master classes with world famous musicians, as M. Rostropovich, D. Sitkovetsky and M. Vengerov. From 2004 to 2010, Valid Ağayev was  a leading violinist and a soloist of the "Gara Garayev" Azerbaijan State Chamber Orchestra.  As part of this activity, he led concert tours to Germany, France, USA, Japan, South Korea,  Italy, Poland, Turkey, Sweden, Belgium, Russia and Ukraine.  

From 2012 to 2017 Valid Ağayev studied conducting at the High School of Music and Dance  in Cologne; first with Professor Michael Luig and later on with Professor Alexander Rumpf.  

Since January 2014 until July 2020, Valid Ağayev has been working as a Conductor and  Artistic Director of the Attendorn Chamber Orchestra. In this capacity, on numerous occasions  he attracted exceptional soloists such as Oleksiy Semenenko (2nd prize Queen Elisabeth  Competition 2015), Koryun Asatryan (Echo-prize 2005), Gerhard Vielhaber, Shengzhi Guo...  

Over the past twenty years, Alan Chircop directed several international orchestras and appeared in various theatres, concert halls and festivals in many different countries. Among others, he has conducted the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall and Westminster Central Hall in London, the London Concert Orchestra, the Sofia Philharmonic – National Orchestra of Bulgaria, the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Macedonia, the National Chamber Orchestra of Armenia, L’Orchestra Citta’ di Ravenna and L’Orchestra Sinfonica Duchi d’Acquaviva (Italy), the Royal Oman Symphony Orchestra, the Leopoli State Symphony Orchestra (Ukraine), L'Orchestre Lyrique de Region Avignon-Provence (France), the Karlovy Vary  Symphony Orchestra (Czech Republic), the Mihail Jora Philharmonic of Bacau (Romania), the Karelia State Philharmonic Orchestra, the Kislovodsk - Mineralnye Vody State Symphony Orchestra and the Sochi Symphony Orchestra (Russia); the Pleven Philharmonic Orchestra (Bulgaria); the Westsächsische Philharmonie and the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Symphony Orchestra Leipzig (Germany), the Camerata con Cor(d)e of Belgium and the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra.

Alan Chircop’s repertoire is very wide ranging and apart from an extensive symphonic and concerto repertoire, he has directed several opera productions and contemporary music premieres.

Being a resident of UAE for many years Nikolai has an international career as conductor and virtuoso violinist. As part of his concert tours, Nikolai has performed in biggest halls around the world - (the Residence of the President of Russia, the Beethoven Hall of the Bolshoi Theatre of Russia, the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, the Small Hall and Rachmaninoff Hall, and other Philharmonics. It also includes Dubai Opera House, Emirates Palace, Damascus Opera House (Syria); Falla Theater, Villamarte Theater, Arasena Theater, Maestranza Theater (Spain); Teatro Real de Ribeira (Portugal); Teatro Deauville, Hôtel de Ville (France); Teatro Teresa Carreño, Teatro Alexander Humbolt (Venezuela), etc.) as well as in many prestigious halls of UAE (Dubai Opera, Emirates Palace, La Perle by Dragone - ceremony of the Ministry of Education in Al Habtoor City in Dubai sponsored by Mohammed bin Rashid, Fujairah Ministry of Culture with artist Ali Obeid, Centre for Musical Arts's Concerthall, NYU Abu Dhabi Chamber Series, Alliance Française in Dubai etc.)

Nikolai has collaborated with numerous orchestras including the UAE National Symphony Orchestra, Moscow State Symphony Orchestra, Royal Seville Symphony Orchestra, Venezuelan Symphony Orchestra, Dubai Chamber, Togliatti Filharmonic Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra of Syria, Igor Lerman Chamber Orchestra, Baigbeder Orchestra and others. The virtuoso musician has appeared on stage with such renowned musicians as Graf Mourja,Valentin Uryupin Luca Debargue, Hayk Kazazian, Philippe Kopatchevsky, Dmitry Berlinsky, Roberto Kani, Bretislav Novotny, Aziz Shokhakimov, Alexander Zhurbin, etc.

Acclaimed as "dynamic and knowledgeable" by the Buenos Aires Herald, Croatian conductor Miran Vaupotić has worked with eminent orchestras including the London Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Russian National Orchestra, the St. Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra, the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Budapest Symphony Orchestra MÁV, Orchestre de Chambre de Genève, the Cairo Symphony Orchestra, the Prague Radio Symphony, Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional Argentina and others, performing in major halls around the globe, such as Carnegie Hall, Wiener Musikverein, Berliner Philharmonie, Rudolfinum, Smetana Hall, Victoria Hall, Forbidden City Concert Hall, Shanghai Oriental Art Center, Tchaikovsky Hall, International House of Music, CBC Glenn Gould Studio etc.

A strong advocate for new music, Vaupotić has premiered many pieces including Carlos Franzetti’s Clarinet Concerto, Roberto Di Marino's Guitar Concerto, Primous Fountain’s Symphony No. 2 commissioned by 28-time Grammy Award-winning American producer Quincy Jones, and most recently The Wild Symphony composed by #1 New York Times bestselling author Dan Brown (The Da Vinci Code).