The Symphony Bids Farewell to Beloved Longtime Musician Zart Dombourian-Eby

By Leilani Polk & Kat Finder

After 43 remarkable years with the Seattle Symphony, Zartouhi Dombourian-Eby, the Robert & Clodagh Ash Piccolo, is retiring at the end of the 2024/2025 season.   

Zart was born and raised in New Orleans and says that music was a constant presence in her home; her father was a conductor and highly respected music educator. After attending Louisiana State University, she moved to Chicago to earn a doctoral degree in flute performance. It was there that she worked with Walfrid Kujala, the renowned Chicago Symphony flutist and professor of flute at Northwestern University, who ignited her desire to play music professionally. She joined the Seattle Symphony in 1982.

After thousands of concerts, it’s difficult for Zart to choose from the many highlights of her time here, but some of her fondest memories include performing the West Coast premiere of Gunther Schuller’s Concerto for Flute and Piccolo (1991), the opening concert and Day of Music festival at Benaroya Hall (1998) and Richard Strauss’ Death and Transfiguration with Hermann Michael (2003), as well as performing music by John Williams with Williams himself at the podium (2017) and in the concerts that featured the U.S. premiere of South African cellist Abel Selaocoe’s Four Spirits (2023). “And of course, playing with the Seattle Symphony at Carnegie Hall in 2004 and 2014 was the experience of a lifetime!”

She has also spent decades as a teacher, passing on her wisdom and the passion she’d learned from Kujala. In addition to being on the faculties of the University of Washington and Pacific Lutheran University, she has given private lessons and masterclasses to hundreds of flutists and piccoloists of all ages around the world. Among her students over the years? Seattle Symphony Board Chair Emerita Leslie Jackson Chihuly and Seattle Symphony Associate Principal Flute Jeffery Barker. Barker began lessons with her while he was in high school and ultimately joined her in the orchestra. “Performing with Jeffrey over the last 10 years has been a wonderful and fulfilling experience, a real circle of life.”

A firm believer in volunteerism and in giving back, Zart has served on dozens of Symphony board and union committees, including the committee that selected the site for Benaroya Hall. She has served on its board since before the doors opened. “Choosing downtown as the site for Benaroya showed the Symphony’s deep commitment to the health of downtown,” she shared. “Our role changes, but we will always be a cornerstone of the cultural life of Seattle.”

She has been a passionate advocate for musician involvement on every level. She chaired the committee made up of 15 musicians who were empowered to help shape the backstage area of Benaroya Hall, making it one of the most musician-friendly backstages in the country. And she headed up the “Welcome Wagon” committee, which takes first-year musicians out to lunch in their first month in Seattle, to help show them the ropes and navigate life at the orchestra. Other important work she has done for the orchestra has included negotiating a multitude of collective bargaining agreements, serving as treasurer of the union, and chairing the trustees of the musicians’ pension plan for 34 years.

She has also been involved in many outreach projects with the Education and Community Engagement team over the years, playing in a woodwind quintet that visited schools and participating in the Merriman-Ross Family Young Composers Workshop. She has found great delight in the Symphony’s Side-by-Side concerts. “I did a similar side-by-side when I was in high school; I was playing both flute and cello at the time, and I was sitting next to my cello teacher, who was in the New Orleans Philharmonic. It’s a big learning encounter for both the students and the professionals. I’ve seen my fellow musicians crying afterwards, because it is so moving, especially for those who don’t teach much and aren’t regularly exposed to talented kids who have this real interest."

Her favorite outreach, however, was her work in the Lullaby Project. Since 2013, the Symphony has partnered with Mary’s Place, which shelters families experiencing homelessness, to present this workshop series, in which Seattle Symphony musicians and students from Seattle Pacific University’s (SPU) Music Therapy program are partnered with mothers and children in crisis situations to create personal lullabies. “It has been a privilege to bring joy and hope to all these women. The lullabies that they write are about their hopes and dreams for their kids, which are the same as the hopes and dreams we all have for our kids. It was a moment where you see how music can really connect so many different kinds of people.”

Zart has been a member of the National Flute Association (NFA) for many years, serving as both its President and chair of its endowment committee, among many other roles. In August of 2025, she will be awarded the NFA’s Lifetime Achievement Award, given annually to recognize significant and lasting impact to the flute world, honoring accomplished luminaries in flute-related fields. Zart is also being honored with the NFA’s Distinguished Service Award, presented to an individual who has demonstrated profound, dedicated service and commitment to the NFA. She is the first person to receive both awards.

Zart has made a significant impact on the orchestra and our community during her tenure here. She treasures the deep connections she’s nurtured with audiences and supporters. “People have told me going to the Symphony allows them to unplug and just get lost in the music,” she said. “But it’s a two-way street — music brings people joy or helps them in their sorrows, and it gives me purpose. It’s been an amazing thrill and privilege to get to have a job doing something that you truly love — in my case, making music. Thanks to you all for making my 43 years here an incredible ride.”

Zartouhi Dombourian-Eby's position is generously underwritten as the Robert & Clodagh Ash Piccolo.

Abel Selaocoe’s performances on the 2024/2025 season were generously sponsored by Stephen and Rebecca Whyte. Abel Selaocoe’s performances and commission of Four Spirits on the 2023/2024 season were generously underwritten by The Richard E. Lang and Jane Lang Davis Living Music Program.

The Merriman-Ross Family Young Composers Workshop is generously underwritten by Pamela Merriman, Sonja Ross, and Kelley Ross.

Additional support for The Merriman-Ross Family Young Composers Workshop is provided by Patricia M. Davis, Ann Holbrook, and Michel and Christine Suignard.