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Table of ContentsKOMITAS VARDAPET

SAYAT - NOVA

ARAM KHACHATURIAN

ARNO BABAJANIAN

ALEXANDER ARUTIUNIAN

EDVARD MIRZOIAN

AVET TERTERIAN

ALEXANDER SPENDIARIAN

KONSTANTIN ORBELIAN

TIGRAN MANSURIAN

ROBERT AMIRKHANIAN

STEPHAN ELMAS

ASHOT ZOHRABIAN

ALAN HOVHANNES

GHAZAROS SARIAN

STEPAN SHAKARIAN

CHARLES AZNAVOUR

ABOUT

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KOMITAS VARDAPET

Soghomon Gevorgi Soghomonyan commonly known as KomitasVardapet or simply Komitas was born on September 26, 1869 in Anatolia,Turkey, in the town of Koutina. Komitas was an Armenianpriest, composer, choir leader, singer, music ethnologist, musicpedagogue and musicologist. Many regard him as the founder ofmodern Armenian classical music and the founder of Armenian nationalschool of musical composition. He freed Armenian music from foreigninfluences and was the first to prove the Armenian nation have its ownmusic. Being a profound expert of national music, Komitas created anoriginal synthesis of Armenian monodic thinking and Europeanpolyphony that has endured to the present. He collected and wrote downthousands of folksongs, studied church and folk music considering themto be “siblings”.Komitas also made a research of Armenian khazes(symbols used in the old Armenian system of musical notation), andauthored Patarag of the Armenian Church. Unfortunately, the prolific wayof consciousness and creativity of the brilliant composer was short.Komitas shared the fate of his compatriots during the Genocide of 1915.

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He was appallingly shocked by the tragic events, which subsequentlyfatally affected his mental condition and he had a psychotic breakdownafter witnessing the horrors of 1915 Armenian Genocide and isconsidered a martyr of the Genocide.

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SAYAT - NOVA

Sayat-Nova born as Harutyun Sayatyan (1712 or 1722 – 22 September1795), was an Armenian poet, musician and ashik, who had compositionsin a number of languages. Sayat-Nova's mother, Sara, was born in Tbilisi,and his father, Karapet, either in Aleppo or Adana. He was born in Tbilisi.His mother tongue was Georgian and he first wrote exclusively inGeorgian, though he eventually learned Armenian. Sayat Nova wasskilled in writing poetry, singing, and playing the kamancheh, Chonguri,Tambur. He performed in the court of Erekle II of Georgia, where he alsoworked as a diplomat and, apparently, helped forge an alliance betweenGeorgia, Armenia and Shirvan against the Persian Empire. He lost hisposition at the royal court when he fell in love with the king's sister; hespent the rest of his life as an itinerant bard.In 1759 he was ordained as apriest in the Armenian Apostolic Church. His wife Marmar died in 1768,leaving behind four children. He served in locations including Tbilisi andHaghpat Monastery. In 1795 he was killed in Haghpat monastery by theinvading army of Mohammad Khan Qajar, the Shah of Iran. He is buriedat the Cathedral of Saint George, Tbilisi. In Armenia, Sayat Nova is

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considered a great poet who made a considerable contribution to theArmenian poetry and music of his century. Although he lived his entirelife in a deeply religious society, his works are mostly secular and full ofromantic expressionism. About 220 songs have been attributed to Sayat-Nova, although he may have written thousands more. He wrote his songsin Armenian, Georgian, Azerbaijani and Persian. His compositionsassume the form of traditional Armenian songs.

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ARAM KHACHATURIAN

Aram Khachaturian was a talented composer, whose compositionsbecame part of the music classics of the 20-th century. His name isrecognized throughout the world, and the compositions are performedworldwide, on the best theater stages, concert platforms, as well as themost distant places. Today, the music of Khachaturian is played on theradio, TV and cinema. The UNESCO places the name of Khachaturianamong the most renowned composers of the 20-th century, and his“Sabre Dance” of the well-known ballet “Gayaneh” takes one of the firstplaces in the list of the most popular compositions of our age. AramKhachaturian was born in Kodzhori (now Tbilisi), suburb of Tiflis, on June6, 1903, in the Armenian family of a bookbinder. He wrote later: “Old Tiflisis a city of sounds, a city of music. It took a stroll along the streets andlanes away from the center, to plunge into the musical atmospherewhich was created by all the various sources…” It is also important, thatat the time, there was a division of RMC (Russian Musical Society) inTbilisi, as well as a musical school and an Italian Opera Theatre. Thisplace was visited by famous cultural representatives, among which were:

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Fyodor Shalyapin, Sergei Rakhmaninov, Konstantin Igumnov. Ultimately,there lived famous musicians, who played an important role in theformation of Georgian and Armenian composer schools. All of thisconstituted the basis for the early musical impressions of AramKhachaturian. The original multi-national “alloy” of the intonation was anintegral part of his acoustical experience. Years later, this very “alloy”became the pledge of Khachaturian’s music, so that it was never limitedby the frames of nationality, and was always appealing to a wide-range ofaudiences. It is worth mentioning that Khachaturian was always devoidof any demonstration of national hidebound. He had a profound respectand a live interest in the music of various nations. Internationalism isone of the characteristic features and peculiarities of the worldperception, and is part of the creative work of Khachaturian. Despite hisearly demonstrated musical abilities, Aram Khachaturian becameacquainted with the music literacy for the first time at the age of 19 in1922, when he arrived in Moscow and got enrolled in a cello class atGnesin Music School. Simultaneously, the composer got a degree inbiology from the Department of Physics and Mathematics at MoscowState University. The musical development of Khachaturian proceeded ata fast pace. Within a short period, not only did he catch up on hisclasswork, but he also became one of the best students, obtaining theright to perform at students’ concerts in the Small and Grand Halls ofMoscow Conservatory.

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ARNO BABAJANIAN

Arno Babajanian, January 22, 1921 – November 11, 1983, was anArmenian composer and pianist during the Soviet era.Babajanian wasborn in Yerevan, Armenia. By age 5, his extraordinary musical talent wasclearly apparent, and the composer Aram Khachaturian suggested thatthe boy be given proper music training. Two years later, in 1928 at theage of 7, Babajanian entered the Yerevan State Musical Conservatory. In1938, he continued his studies in Moscow with Vissarion Shebalin. Helater returned to Yerevan, where from 1950–1956 he taught at theYerevan State conservatory. It was during this period that he wrote thePiano Trio in f# sharp minor. It received immediate acclaim and wasregarded as a masterpiece from the time of its premiere. Subsequently,he undertook concert tours throughout the Soviet Union and Europe. In1971, he was named a People’s Artist of the Soviet Union. As a composer,Babajanian was active in most genres and even wrote many popularsongs in collaboration with the leading poets such as YevgenyYevtushenko and Robert Rozhdestvensky among others. Much ofBabajanian’s music is rooted in Armenian folk music and folklore. But

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generally, the way in which he uses Armenian folk music is in thevirtuosic style of Rachmaninov and Khachaturian. His later works wereinfluenced by Prokofiev and Bartók. Praised by Dmitri Shostakovich as a"brilliant piano teacher", Babajanian was also a noted pianist and oftenperformed his own works in concerts. He received the Stalin Prize of1950 for his Heroic Ballade for piano with orchestra and the Order of theRed Banner of Labour. He was People's Artist of the Armenian SSR (1956)and Soviet Union (1971). He was a laureate of two Stalin State Prizes ofthe USSR (1951, 1953) and two Armenian SSR State Prizes (1967, 1983).

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ALEXANDER ARUTIUNIAN

Alexander Arutiunian has died at the age of 91 in Yerevan, the city of hisbirth. If Armenia does not immediately summon up a litany ofrecognisable Western composers, Arutiunian was, for 60 years, adistinctive and internationally recognised figure from the SouthCaucasus. Underpinned by the pedagogical traditions of the Soviet eraand fuelled by the proud identity of Komitas as the spiritual father ofArmenian classical music, Arutiunian’s evocative, resourceful andattractive musical language took flight. From his early cantata,Motherland, of 1948 (for which he won the Stalin Prize ahead ofShostakovich) to his final piece in 2011, a flute concerto, Arutiunianexplored ways of harnessing intensity of emotion within establishedclassical forms, flavoured variously with regional characteristics. Earlyworks draw on indigenous improvisatory models whilst his opera Sayat-Nova (1967) celebrates the Armenian troubadour (or ‘meistersinger’) inthe time-honoured romantic ideal of vernacular minstrelsy. However hiscatalogue is largely focused on a repertoire of idiomatic instrumentalworks, most notably well-crafted concertos for all the members of the

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brass family. If there is a single work which captivated audiences andcritics alike it was the Violin Concerto, Armenia-88, inspired by the Spitakearthquake of that year, which killed 25,000 people at the height of theSoviet ‘stagnation era’. The concerto reveals Arutiunian at his mostprofound, personal and coherent. It was described by Joseph Horowitz asa work which ‘overflows with graceful melodic invention, rhythmicvitality, deeply felt emotional intensity and dionysiac exuberance’. Yet it ishis Trumpet Concerto of 1950 which has established Arutiunian’s nameas a durable figure. There is no conservatoire in the world in which thiswork does not feature perennially in syllabuses, competitions andconcert programmes. It is arguably the best-known trumpet concertoafter the Haydn and the Hummel. Like those two pioneering works,Arutiunian alights readily on the most naturally vocalised and lyricalqualities of the trumpet whilst also exploiting the instrument’s dynamicarticulation in thrilling figuration and a dazzling culminating cadenza.Whilst it has been suggested that the work suffers from derivative andnostalgic Russian gestures (including a delightfully Polovtsian middlesection), the rich melodic character, taut structure and generosity of spirithave ensured that it remains a central work in the armoury of every self-respecting solo trumpet player. It was most famously recorded byTimofei Dokschitzer with the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra under GennadiRozhdestvensky but since then has been recorded by fine players fromMaurice André to Alison Balsom.

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EDVARD MIRZOIAN

Edvard Mirzoyan, May 12, 1921 – October 5, 2012, was an Armeniancomposer. Mirzoyan was born in Gori, Georgia. Initially schooled inmusic in Yerevan and graduated from the Komitas State Conservatory.Mirzoyan went to Moscow to further refine his art. In late 1956 he waselected president of the Armenian Composers’ Union, a position he helduntil 1991. He was a professor of composition at the Komitas StateConservatory and president of the Peace Foundation of Armenia. EdvardMirzoyan’s compositional output is relatively small but quitedistinguished, combining graceful lyricism with intense drama. With itsformal structure and tonal design, his style has been described asNeoclassical, with elements of Armenian folksong always present.Mirzoyan’s String Quartet, Cello Sonata, Symphony for Strings andTimpani, and Epitaph for String Orchestra have become notableadditions to the repertoire.

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AVET TERTERIAN

Avet Terterian (also Alfred Roubenovich Terterian or Terteryan) (July 29,1929 in Baku, Azerbaijan – December 11, 1994 in Yekaterinburg, Russia)was an Armenian composer, awarded the Konrad Adenauer Prize.[2] Hewas a friend and colleague of Giya Kancheli, Konstantin Orbelyan, andTigran Mansuryan. Dmitri Shostakovich praised Terterian as "verytalented" and "with great future" in one of his letters, published by hisfriend Isaak Glikman, having heard a recording of Terterian's works atArmenia's "House of Composers" summer resort, in Dilijan, Armenia. Hecomposed eight (completed) symphonies, an opera and several chamberworks. Several of his symphonies are recorded, as noted in one of thepages linked. (The date 1973 in the Musicweb review of the Melodiyarecording of symphony 3 is probably a typographical error, since thepublisher's listing also gives 1975 for the first performance of that work.)Yekaterinburg's annual music festival is named after him.

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ALEXANDER SPENDIARIAN

Spendiaryan was born on November 1 (os October 20), 1871 in Kakhovka,province of Tavrik (modern Ukraine) in an Armenian family whoseancestry originated from Ani. His artistic abilities were formed in earlychildhood. He inherited his musical abilities from his mother who playedpiano. When Spendiaryan was seven he wrote a waltz. In 1890 he went toMoscow and studied for one year in the Natural Sciences faculty ofMoscow University, and then in 1895 he graduated from the Law faculty.At the same time he continued his violin classes. In 1896 Spendiaryanwent to St. Petersburg to show his compositions to Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, who greatly admired his music and encouraged him to turndeeper into his people's folklore. From 1896 to 1900 he took privatecomposition lessons with Rimsky-Korsakov. According to AlexanderGlazunov, "Rimsky-Korsakov was perfectly satisfied with the results ofSpendiaryan's work and considered him a serious, talented composerwith a great flair for composition". Spendiaryan was awarded the Glinkaprize three times for his three works: the symphonic picture "Tree palms"in 1908, the legend "Preacher Beda" in 1910 and the melody declamation

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"We’ll have a rest" in 1912. His symphonic pieces, songs and romances,choral works, and musico-declamatory pieces earned him high marksamongst audiences and professional musicians. Being a capableconductor, he was able to train the members of orchestras to play wellduring rehearsals. Spendiaryan led concerts in Kharkov, Odessa,Moscow, Petersburg, Doni-Rostov and New Nakhijevan. He spent muchof his time in Yalta and Sudak. While he was living in Crimea,Spendiaryan met Anton Chekhov, Maxim Gorky and Fyodor Shalyapin.Alexander Glazunov was also a guest at his house. In 1910 Spendiaryanbecame a member of Yalta's Russian Musical Company. The symphonicpoem "Three Palms" occupies a special place among Spendiaryan'ssymphonic compositions. With its poetic tone, its picturesque nature,and bright colouring, it resembles the oriental programme works of theMighty Handful. Spendiaryan toured abroad performing this originalpiece in Berlin, Copenhagen, New York and elsewhere. Other works bySpendiaryan include "Concert Prelude", "Concert Waltz", and "Etude ofJewish Themes", Cantabile and Prelude for the string quartet, Baracarolle,Minuet, Scherzo, romances and vocal instrumental works. "Oh Rose" (AyeVart) was a very famous classical piece in Russia and former USSR. In1916 Spendiaryan performed in Tiflis where he met poet HovhannesTumanian and decided to write an opera based on "The Capture ofTmpkabert" poem. In 1916 the libretto of Almast opera was ready, andSpendiaryan began work on the opera, and finished the opera's vocalscore in 1923. He continued his work on the instrumentation right up tohis death. The instrumantation of the forth act of "Almast" wascompleted by M. O. Shteinburg.

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KONSTANTIN ORBELIAN

A talented composer of classical music (symphony, ballet, chamberensemble), jazz, and popular songs, Konstantin Orbelian is one of thebrightest phenomena of Soviet and post-Soviet musical culture. He is therecipient of significant awards in the former Soviet Union, the ArmenianRepublic, and the international musical community. He has received thehighest accolades from the three Soviet presidents: the award “ForServices to Labor” from Khrushchev; the title “People’s Artist of the USSR”from Brezhnev, and, finally, the “Friendship of Peoples” prize fromGorbachev in 1989. Konstantin Orbelian has been acknowledged as apianist and improviser since he was in his teens. At age fifteen, he wasinvited to perform with the Armenian State Pop Orchestra; andsubsequently became its conductor. Under his able direction for thirty-six years, the Orchestra rose to become one of the most accomplished ofits kind. As a result, it came to represent Soviet jazz in more than thirtycountries in Eastern and Western Europe, the Near East, Africa, andSoutheast Asia. One of the Orchestra’s highlights was its American tourin 1975, which included twenty-five concerts in major cities from coast to

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coast. Graduating in composition and piano from Edward Mirzoyan’sclass of composition at Yerevan’s Komitas Conservatory in 1963, Orbelianachieved early recognition for his String Quartet, winning the covetedFirst Prize at the International Competition in Moscow, where thechairman of the Competition’s panel of judges was the composer DmitriShostakovich. As a result, Orbelian’s rising talent and success were notedwith great appreciation by the doyen of Armenian music of the time,Aram Khachaturian. Next followed the premiere of Orbelian’s FirstSymphony in Moscow’s famous Tchaikovsky Hall by the USSR StateSymphony Orchestra. For this Symphony, Orbelian was awarded the title“Laureate of the All-Union Competition.” His subsequent CelebrationOverture achieved the same acclaim. His ballet symphony “Immortality”was composed in 1975 and performed by the Yerevan Opera and BalletTheater. This work, too, won First Prize in an All-Union Competitiondevoted to music for the stage. One of Orbelian’s more recentcompositions in the classical idiom, an orchestral miniature with solopiano, was written in memory of George Gershwin, and was firstperformed by the Moscow Chamber Orchestra under the direction ofOrbelian’s nephew, Constantine Orbelian. Ever versatile in the scope ofhis repertoire, Konstantin Orbelian has written musical scores for anumber of films, including Krkesi Chanaparhin [On the Way to the Circus]and Sirte Yergum e [The Heart Sings]; music for the theater; pop songs;jazz; and scores for stage musicals. Several of these compositions havewon prestigious prizes. The subject of two documentary films in Russian,Orbelian is currently vice-president of the International Association of theUnion of Musicians in Moscow.

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TIGRAN MANSURIAN

Tigran Mansurian, born 27 January 1939, is an Armenian composer ofclassical music and film scores. Born in Beirut, Mansurian moved withhis family back to their ancestral Armenia in 1947, and studied at theYerevan Conservatory of which he would eventually become the director.In the 1960s he was attracted by the ideas of the Western new musicavant-garde but became increasingly convinced of the importance of thespirit of place and of composing in an authentically Armenian voice. “Ourposition on the map of music and culture,” he has written, “is exactly onthe spot where East and West meet.” It is this special vantage point thatfires his creative imagination. Tigran Mansurian remains fascinated bythe relationship of Armenia’s sacred music to its folk songs, sopowerfully brought together in the work of Komitas, an enduringinfluence. In 2000, Mansurian recorded his own arrangements of Komitason Hayren, a disc that also included premiere recordings of his music forviola and percussion, played by Kim Kashkashian and RobynSchulkowsky. This was followed by Monodia, the wide-ranging composerportrait album, recorded 2001-2002, with cast including Kim Kashkashian,

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Leonidas Kavakos, Jan Garbarek, the Hilliard Ensemble and the MunichChamber Orchestra under the direction of Christoph Poppen. The album"Monodia" was nominated for the 2005 Grammy Award for "BestInstrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with Orchestra)" and "Best ClassicalContemporary Composition".

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ROBERT AMIRKHANIAN

Robert Amirkhanyan, born on November 16, 1939 in Yerevan, is anArmenian composer and songwriter. Professor of Yerevan StateConservatory.

In 1969 he graduated from the Composer department of Yerevan StateConservatory. From 1969 to 1972 Amirkhanyan was the musical editor ofArmenian Radio. Since 1991 he is the head of the Union of Composersand Musicologists of Armenia.

He is an author of many popular Armenian songs ("Hayreni yerkir", "Hayiachker", "Ding-dong") and soundtracks of films and animation cartoons.Among the best known is the song "Arise!."

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STEPHAN ELMAS

Stephan Elmas was an Armenian composer, pianist and teacher. Elmaswas born into a family of wealthy entrepreneurs in Smyrna (now İzmir), acity in the Ottoman Empire. It was soon discovered that the little boy wasa child prodigy: he began taking piano lessons and writing short pianopieces under the tutelage of a local music teacher, Mr. Moseer, andalready at the age of thirteen, the young virtuoso performed an all-Lisztpiano recital. Elmas composed rapidly and with great ease. Perhaps thisexplains why he sometimes did not revise his compositions sufficiently.However, many of his works are of high quality and perhaps he was mostsuccessful in composing his elegant and stylish salon pieces. Thesepieces seem to be composed for an earlier time: Elmas’s compositionstend to hearken back towards the style of earlier, Romantic composers,rather than forward to the challenging times that were shaping themusical world at the beginning of the new century. Established in 1988under the artistic guidance of Alexandre Siranossian, the Stephan ElmasFoundation aims to disseminate the legacy of the Armenian composer.Recently, the composer’s works have been experiencing a revival, thanks

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to the efforts of pianist Armen Babakhanian.

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ASHOT ZOHRABIAN

Ashot Zohrabyan is an esteemed Armenian composer of mostlyorchestral, chamber and vocal works that have been performed inEurope and elsewhere. Zohrabyan pursued his musical education at theYerevan State Komitas Conservatory from 1967 to 1972, studyingcomposition with Professor Grigori Yeghiazaryan. Following hisgraduation, he entered the faculty of the Conservatory, first as a teacherof music theory and instrumentation, and later as Professor ofComposition (since 1980). His music has been performed throughoutArmenia, as well as in Russia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Ukraine, Belgium,France, Germany, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, and the US. Zohrabyan'smusical language is thoroughly interwoven with the musical tradition ofhis native Armenia. His compositions are marked by strict logic andgeneral transparency, whilst the minutest structural details are workedout throughout the development of the piece. The composerconcentrated on instrumental music from the outset of his career,showing marked preference for chamber genres. While still a student ofYeghiazaryan's at the conservatory, Zohrabyan wrote a number of works

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for various instrumental combinations. He confined himself to chambermusic in order to be able to concentrate on every detail, polish off themusical text and achieve inner harmony. His ideas found their mostgraphic realization in the two books of his Boomerang Games forinstrumental ensemble, written some time after his graduation from theconservatory. Performed in Yerevan and at the Georges PompidouCultural Centre in Paris, this work summed up seven years of tirelesssearchings on the part of Ashot Zohrabyan. Outstanding musicians, suchas the cellist Medea Abramyan and members of the Yerevan ChamberOrchestra, readily perform his works on the concert stage, where they areinvariably acclaimed as original and attractive compositions. His workshave also been performed during various festivals, such as the HollandFestival in the Netherlands.

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ALAN HOVHANNES

Alan Hovhaness was an Armenian-American composer. He was one ofthe most prolific 20th-century composers, with his official catalogcomprising 67 numbered symphonies (surviving manuscripts indicateover 70) and 434 opus numbers. However, the true tally is well over 500surviving works since many opus numbers comprise two or moredistinct works. Alan Hovhaness ranks among the most intrepid ofmusical explorers in 20th century classical music. He was a widelyrecorded and lauded composer in the 1950's and 60's, and the recipientof numerous awards. Rather ahead of his time aesthetically, he has,since the 1990's, enjoyed something of a revival on CD and radio, asaudiences have 'caught up' with him. Yet there is little scholarlycommentary on Hovhaness despite the wealth of radical individuality insome phases of his six decades of creativity. This is somewhat surprisinggiven that during the 1940's and 50's he was firmly entrenched withinthat maverick group of American composers (others included HenryCowell, Jonn Cage and Lou Harrison) who spearheaded one of the greatshifts in 20th century American music, namely that of looking to non-

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Western cultures for creative renewal in art music. In addition,Hovhaness spearheaded quasi-aleatoric textural music as early as the1940's, a technique which became known as 'ad libitum' in the 1960's.The composer's huge output of more than 500-odd works was unusuallydiverse, prompting lively debate and opinion over the perceived merits ofcertain musical phases over others. Like other 20th century restlesscreators, such as Villa Lobos and Henry Cowell to name but two,Hovhaness did not set out to write a polished masterpiece with everywork. But as Leonard Bernstein remarked in 1960, “Some of Hovhaness'smusic is very, very good”. Indeed, Hovhaness’s best works standshoulder-to-shoulder with those of America’s most lauded composers,and many are more original if lesser known. But Hovhaness was anoutsider by temperament and choice, his artistic credo somewhatimpermeable to musical fashion and his aesthetic intent often more insympathy with the Orient than Occident. Investigation of Hovhaness’sbest music reveals a unique and thoroughly convincing assimilation ofhighly disparate traditions coming to the fore and receding over thecourse of his career, including Renaissance polyphony, South Indianclassical music, Japanese Gagaku music and Korean Ah-ak music. Ofcourse, many 20th century composers flirted with such exotica, but inHovhaness they find perhaps the most seamless alchemy of all becauseit was more than mere flirtation. It was a musical engagement on anaesthetic as well as technical level.

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GHAZAROS SARIAN

Ghazaros Saryan was born into a family of distinguished Armenianartists. He is the son of renowned painter Martiros Saryan and thegrandson of the prominent writer Ghazaros Aghayan. Musically gifted,Ghazaros attended the Yerevan State Conservatory from 1934 to 1938,where he studied composition with Sargis Barkhudaryan and VardgesTalyan. Afterwards, he travelled to Moscow and enrolled in thecomposition class of Vissarion Shebalin at the Gnessin State MusicalCollege. With the outbreak of World War II in 1941, Ghazaros was draftedinto the Soviet army and served actively until 1945. Subsequently, heentered the Moscow Conservatory. Among his composition teacherswere Dmitri Kabalevsky, Dmitri Shostakovich and Anatoly NikolayevichAlexandrov. Saryan graduated in 1950. Upon his return to Armenia,Saryan joined the faculty of the Yerevan Komitas State Conservatorywhere he taught orchestration. During 1955-56, he was chairman of theArmenian Composers' Union. In 1960, he was appointed rector of theConservatory, a position he retained until 1986. Saryan taughtcomposition as well, training such distinguished Armenian composers as

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Tigran Mansurian, Rober Altunyan, Vardan Adjemyan and RubenSargsyan. Ghazaros Saryan was essentially a composer of symphonicoeuvre, in which beautiful surface textures are juxtaposed withadventurous rhythmic and harmonic experimentation. His musicdisplays a keen and sophisticated musical intellect, characterized byauthenticity and integrity. Mr. Saryan has also written a number ofnotable works for chamber music, as well as several film scores.Saryanhas received many awards, including the People's Artist of the ArmenianSSR (1983) and the People's Artist of the USSR (1991). For his militaryservice he was decorated with the Red Star Medal. Performed widelywithin the former Soviet Union, Saryan’s music is gradually obtaininggreater recognition in European music capitals. His Armenia: SymphonicPanels was performed in 1991 at the Pierre Boulez Contemporary MusicCenter in Metz, France, and his Passacaglia was presented in 1995 duringthe Athens Music Festival.

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STEPAN SHAKARIAN

Famous Armenian jazz and classical composer Stepan Shakaryan wasBorn in 23.10.1935 in Baku, but he likes to say that he was born inAirplane, because he knows many cultures and has different nations'classical and jazz compositions: Russian, American, French, Italian,Chinese etc... Studied at the conservatories of Yerevan, Moscow andLeningrad (St. Petersburg). He is the only Armenian student of AramKhachatryan.

Now he works in Yerevan State Conservatory After Komitas and plays Jazzin Gafesjian Art Museum.

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CHARLES AZNAVOUR

Shahnour Vaghenag Aznavourian better known by his stage nameCharles Aznavour (born 22 May 1924) is a French Armenian singer,songwriter, actor, public activist and diplomat. Besides being one ofFrance's most popular and enduring singers, he is also one of the best-known singers in the world. Aznavour is known for his unique tenorvoice: clear and ringing in its upper reaches, with gravelly and profoundlow notes. He has appeared in more than sixty movies, composed abouta thousand songs (including at least 150 in English, 100 in Italian, 70 inSpanish, and 50 in German), and sold well over 100 million records.

In 1998, Aznavour was named Entertainer of the Century by CNN andusers of Time Online from around the globe. He was recognized as thecentury's outstanding performer, with nearly 18% of the total vote, edgingout Elvis Presley and Bob Dylan. He has sung for presidents, popes androyalty, as well as at humanitarian events, and is the founder of thecharitable organization Aznavour for Armenia along with his long-timefriend impresario Levon Sayan.

In 2009, he was appointed ambassador of Armenia to Switzerland, as well35

as Armenia's permanent delegate to the United Nations at Geneva.

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ABOUT This book is a complete collection of famous Armenian Composer'sBiographies. Find the most gifted and great composers such as AramIlich Khachaturian, Arno Arutiunich Babajanian, Edvard MikhaelichMirzoian and a lot more. This is a non commercial project so the book isfree and for everyone. Thanks to Music Of Armenia Website andWikipedia for the main information about the great composers. Thankyou for downloading this book!

Best Wishes from`Armenian Music Creators Community & MkhitaryanProduction.

©AMCC2014 All Rights Reserved

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