Ruben Vartanyan; Conductor Defected From Soviet Union

"But, in fact," McLellan wrote, "Vartanyan's conducting credentials are more impressive than Rostropovich's, and his performance Sunday showed that these credentials are backed by solid practical accomplishments."

Ruben Zavenovich Vartanyan was born June 3, 1936, in St. Petersburg (then known as Leningrad). His mother was a pianist, and his father was a clarinetist in a Soviet military orchestra.

As a boy, he fled Leningrad in 1941 with his mother as the German army approached the city. They went to Dr. Vartanyan's ancestral homeland of Armenia.

By the age of 10, he was studying at a Moscow music academy before entering the Moscow Conservatory. He graduated with a degree in piano performance and, in 1964, received a PhD in operatic and symphonic conducting.

In 1963, he spent a year as the understudy to Herbert von Karajan, the renowned conductor of the Vienna State Opera and Vienna Philharmonic. From 1964 to 1967, he was assistant conductor of the Moscow Philharmonic under Kirill Kondrashin, one of the Soviet Union's most acclaimed conductors.

In 1967, Dr. Vartanyan was named principal conductor of the Armenian State Symphony, which he led until he went to Bolivia. During his internal exile in Moscow from 1976 to 1980, he encountered "an absolute wall of silence."

"For 16 hours a day," he said, "I was studying scores, to keep up the feeling that I am a conductor, I am a professional."

Dr. Vartanyan was hardly an active political dissident and supported many of the reforms of Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev, but he constantly felt "under suspicion" in Moscow.

"I am an outspoken person," he said. "I could not disguise my feelings." He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1999.

The Arlington Symphony went bankrupt in July 2005, but later that year the Arlington Philharmonic was formed from its ashes, with Dr. Vartanyan as its music director. He gave his final concert March 9, leading the orchestra in works by Mozat, Bizet and Tchaikovsky.

"He said, 'It is important to make music, not just play music,' " said violist Tom Domingues, who performed in Dr. Vartanyan's first and last local appearances. "With him, you always felt you were making music."

The only survivor is a sister, Karina Vartanyan, of Moscow.