LORIS TJEKNAVORIAN PREPARING FOR 70TH BIRTHDAY BASH IN 2007

Mehr News Agency, Iran
May 31 2006

TEHRAN, May 31 (MNA) – Iranian-born Armenian composer and conductor
Loris Tjeknavorian is to celebrate his 70th birthday in 2007, the
Persian service of CHN reported on Wednesday.

He wants to perform all his compositions during a festival for his
birthday celebration.

He has announced that he is currently making plans for the festival,
and expressed hope that he would be able to hold it at Persepolis.

“I must find several sponsors for the festival to cover the costs. I
am also thinking of performing with one of the orchestras from Vienna,
Russia, or Armenia, or even several.”

He went on to say that the Tehran Symphony Orchestra is not in a
good situation, adding, “If sufficient funding is provided for the
orchestra and it can repair its instruments and purchase some new ones,
I will perform several pieces with this orchestra as well.”

“I am currently doing my best to get the higher education license
for my Academy of Music. If the license is obtained, the Tjeknavorian
Cultural Center will be launched in autumn,” he noted.

Loris Tjeknavorian was born in 1937 in Borujerd in the southwestern
Iranian province of Lorestan and was educated in Tehran.

After he studied violin and piano at the Tehran Conservatory of Music,
he studied composition at the Vienna Music Academy, where he graduated
with honors in 1961.

Tjeknavorian has performed throughout the world, having conducted
international orchestras in Austria, Britain, the United States,
Canada, Hungary, Iran, Finland, the former Soviet Union, Armenia,
Thailand, Hong Kong, South Africa, and Denmark.

His own compositions have been performed by major orchestras, including
the London Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the
Halle Orchestra, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, the American
Symphony Orchestra in New York, the Tehran Symphony Orchestra,
the Johannesburg Symphony Orchestra, the Mexico Symphony Orchestra,
the London Percussion Virtuosi, the Strasbourg Percussion Ensemble,
and the English Chamber Orchestra.