Corporate impact
Stepan Armasar named associate conductor
Tue, Apr 7, 2026
We’re pleased to announce that Stepan Armasar will become the Concertgebouw Orchestra’s new Bernard Haitink associate conductor. Collaborating on approximately half the concert programmes performed during the 2026–27 and the 2027–28 seasons, he will assist Klaus Mäkelä (who will be chief conductor in 2027) and other leading conductors in Amsterdam.
On tour, Stepan Armasar will work with orchestra members in ensemble formation and be involved in our orchestra’s talent development programmes. In the latter half of the 2027–28 season, Armasar will work with our orchestra for a week and conduct several subscription concerts.
Conductor Stepan Armasar, winner of the 2025 Arturo Toscanini International Conducting Competition, was selected through a careful process involving Klaus Mäkelä, our orchestra’s artistic committee, and Artistic Director Elena Dubinets.
Concerts led by associate conductor Aurel Dawidiuk
Stepan Armasar will be taking over from Aurel Dawidiuk, who became the first associate conductor in the history of the Concertgebouw Orchestra in 2024. On Friday 10 April and Sunday 12 April, Dawidiuk will conduct our orchestra in two subscription concerts. The programme features Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune, Poulenc’s Concerto for Organ, Strings and Timpani with Leo van Doeselaar as soloist, and Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony. In September, Dawidiuk will start his first season as music director of the Bochum Symphony Orchestra.
Bernard Haitink Associate Conductorship
We have a long tradition of talent development, with initiatives ranging from its biennial youth orchestra Young to the Academy of the Concertgebouw Orchestra. With the Ammodo Conducting Masterclass and the Bernard Haitink Associate Conductorship, our orchestra is investing in the development of conductors of the future. Launched in 2024, the Associate Conductorship is made possible by a generous donation from the Haitink family. Former chief conductor Bernard Haitink (b. 1929, d. 2021) presided over countless masterclasses during his long career and would often invite young conductors to assist him.
Stepan Armasar
The Moldovan conductor Stepan Armasar is celebrated for his musical intelligence, clarity of gesture, and natural authority on the podium. In 2025, as the youngest participant, he won both first prize and the audience prize at the Arturo Toscanini International Conducting Competition, impressing both jury and orchestra with his interpretation of Luciano Berio’s Rendering.
Born in 2000, he began his musical training at the Secondary Special Music School of the St Petersburg Conservatoire, studying accordion with Professor Alexander Dmitriev. During this period he became a laureate of numerous international competitions, including the Coupe Mondiale (Italy, 2017) and the Trophée Mondiale (France, 2017). He was also the recipient of the Cultural Initiatives Award presented by Yuri Temirkanov.
Since entering the St Petersburg Conservatoire in 2019, he has studied conducting with Professor Peter Gribanov, later joining the Faculty of Opera and Symphony Conducting. Stepan has collaborated with orchestras such as the Arturo Toscanini Philharmonic Orchestra, the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, the Concert Symphony Orchestra of the Moscow State Conservatory, the Karaganda Symphony Orchestra, and the Rostov State Philharmonic Orchestra.
