Edward Dolbashian has been Director of Orchestras and Orchestral Conducting Studies at the University of Missouri - Columbia since 1985. He is also currently Music Director of the Alton Symphony, in Alton, Illinois, the Clayton Symphony Orchestra in Clayton Missouri, and the Compton Heights Concert Band of St. Louis.

Under the leadership of Professor Dolbashian, the University Philharmonic has received numerous awards and invitations to perform throughout the state including four appearances at the Missouri Music Educators Association Conferences in 1987, 1992, 2001, and 2005. In 1996, the Philharmonic was awarded the prestigious honor of performing at the biennial meeting of the Music Educators National Conference in Kansas City. Most recently, in April 2006, the University Philharmonic was again selected to perform at Music Educators National Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah.

As Music Director of these organizations, Mr. Dolbashian presents over thirty concerts a year throughout Missouri and Illinois, covering a range of repertoire from Mahler to Sousa. His concerts feature a wide variety of renowned artists, including the late, legendary baritone William Warfield, violinists Philip Quint, David Halen, Xiang Gao, and jazz greats Doc Severinsen, and Peter Nero, and Arturo Sandoval.

His guest conducting activities have included concerts with the Festival Orchestra of the International Festival of Music in Belem, Brazil, the Londrina Symphony, in Londrina, Brazil, the Missouri Chamber Orchestra, the Gateway Symphony Orchestra, and, several performances with the St. Louis Philharmonic.

Mr. Dolbashian is also an accomplished oboist. His professional performing career began at age seventeen with a solo debut performance at New York City's Town Hall. Before moving to Missouri, Mr. Dolbashian was a member of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra for ten years, and, served as oboist of the Hartford Symphony Woodwind Quintet. In 1982, he joined the Hartford Chamber Orchestra as principal oboist, and served for three years.

Mr. Dolbashian's formal musical training began at the renowned High School of Performing Arts in New York City as an oboe and piano major. He holds degrees in oboe performance from the Hartt School of Music in Hartford, Connecticut, and in orchestral conducting from Yale University where he studied under Otto Werner-Mueller. Further conducting study included several summers at the Pierre Monteux Conducting Seminar under Charles Bruck, the Boris Goldovsky Opera Conducting Seminar, the Herbert Blomstedt Conducting Seminar, and the Tanglewood Festival under Leonard Bernstein, Gustav Meier, and Seiji Ozawa.

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