Life of Brian music maestro Peter Oundjian takes up the baton at RSNO

A PRIZE-WINNING violinist who built a new life as a conductor after a nerve disorder ended his playing career was named music director of Scotland's nat-ional orchestra yesterday.

Peter Oundjian, 55, who recently premiered an oratorio based on Monty Python's Life of Brian, written by his cousin Eric Idle, will succeed French conductor Stephane Deneve as the guiding maestro of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra in 2012.

Oundjian was approached by the RSNO after earning five-star reviews for a guest appearance with the orchestra last March. He pledged to build on the "rich and vital" history of "one of Europe's great orchestras".

Oundjian became music director at Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO) seven years ago when it was on the brink of bankruptcy. He is credited with turning its financial fortunes round and boosting audiences by 50 per cent.

"He is not only a fantastic musician, and a wonderful conductor, but he is immensely charismatic, he's a great public presence," said RSNO chief executive Simon Woods. "Every orchestra needs a great advocate, and he will certainly be that, on and off the stage."

A member of the famed Tokyo String Quartet for 14 years, Oundjian moved to conducting in the mid 1990s after suffering from focal dystonia, a muscle condition that hampered control of his left hand. But he will play violin in concert in Toronto for the first time this year, in a one-off with his former teacher, the renowned violinist Itzhak Perlman.

Born in Toronto to a British-Armenian father and an English mother, he claims distant Scottish roots through a grandfather descended from the MacDonall of Glen Garry clan. His older brother, Haig Oundjian, was three times British figure skating champion.

• CV: Peter Oundjian

He will conduct the famed cellist Yo Yo Ma and Chinese superstar pianist Lang Lang with the TSO this year, and said he hoped to bring major artists to Scotland, if he could raise the sponsorship.

Oundjian will continue as the TSO's music director. It is common for major conductors to hold posts at two orchestras. His contract with the RSNO is for an initial six weeks of conducting, but he expects to spend closer to ten weeks with recording sessions and festival appearances, and will drive the orchestra's programme, planning and hiring on a daily basis, he said.

He spends 12-14 weeks conducting in Toronto. "It is nicely balanced, and also an opportunity for an exchange of ideas," he said."You commit yourself to making a real difference to a community."

His work with the TSO includes "Afterworks" concerts, shorter performances at the end of the working day, part of a drive to recruit younger audiences.

"The most important thing is to be relevant to people's lifestyles," as well as keep great traditional music alive, he said. He will conduct the RSNO in three concerts in April, and will conduct Mozart's Requiem in the 2011-12 season.