BABAJANYAN AND SHOSTAKOVICH BY ARAM KHACHATOURIAN TRIO

AZG DAILY
03-11-2009

Culture

In September 2009, the Aram Khachaturian Trio brought out an
outstanding CD dedicated to Arno Babajanyan’s "Trio for Violin,
Cello and Piano" and Dmitry Shostakovich’s "Trio No. 2".

Members of the Aram Khachaturian Trio, namely Armine Grigoryan,
Karen Shahgaldyan and Karen Kocharyan -distinguished virtuoso
performing artists individually, playing piano, violin and cello
respectively- have managed to create an almost perfect musical
trinity, by interweaving their profound sense of harmony, with the
perfect technique and craftsmanship one finds in abundance in their
performance.

Lovers of Babajanyan and Shostakovich will not find a better
interpretation of the above works, as conveyed in the recently
released CD.

Hopefully Armenian communities worldwide will promote the outstanding
talent of these artists by organizing concerts for the Aram
Khachaturian Trio in their respective countries.

We give below brief information about the formation of the Aram
Khachaturian Trio and the musicians associated with it.

History

The Aram Khachaturian Trio, founded as Trio "Arsika" in 1999,
has toured extensively throughout Central and South America,
Switzerland, Russia and Armenia. The Trio has participated in a
number of prestigious festivals, the Festival de las Artes (Costa
Rica) and Festival International Cervaittino (Mexico), to name but
a few. The Arsika Trio’s performances have been frequently broadcast
by TV and Radio.

In 2008 the Trio took the name of an outstanding Armenian composer,
Aram Khachaturian.

Critics have highly praised the Khachaturian Trio’s virtuoso
performances, subtle sense of style, warm sound, brilliant and deep
musicality. Members of the Trio are also involved in teaching. They
give master classes in music schools across various regions in Armenia.

The Trio works in close collaboration with contemporary composers. It
has premiered a number of new works commissioned by them. The members
of the Trio are established and highly regarded chamber musicians.

Their repertoire covers a wide range of music styles.

Members of the Trio Armine Grigoryan, piano.

A graduate of the Yerevan Tchaikovsky School of Music, who has also
completed Yerevan State Conservatory postgraduate studies under the
guidance of Professors Georgy and Sergey Saradjian, Armine Grigoryan,
has appeared with the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra, performing piano
concertos by Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms. As an accompanist, she has
won Special prizes at Aram Khachaturian (1997) and Levon Chilingirian
(2002) Competitions. Armine has collaborated with renowned violinist
Nikolay Madoyan performing versatile programmes including Beethoven’s
10 Sonatas. She has toured Russia, Italy, UAE, Germany, Lithuania,
Lebanon, Cyprus and the USA. Armine Grigoryan is a laureate of the
"Roma-2003" Piano Competition, where she also received a Special prize
and Medal from the Chamber of Deputies of Rome. CDs of her recordings
have been released. In 2005, for the first time in Armenia, Armine
Grigoryan organized a festival of the Art of Accompaniment. As a jury
member she has participated in a number of local and International
Competitions. Armine is a Professor at Yerevan State Conservatory
and since 2004, director of the Aram Khachaturian Museum.

Karen Shahgaldyan, violin

A graduate of Moscow Conservatory (class of Viktor Tretyakov), he
completed postgraduate studies with Prof. Maya Glezarova. He has
participated in master classes given by Y. Menuhin, V Spivakov, G.

Zhislin and Y Chugaeva. From 1998-2002 Karen Shahgaldyan performed
with members of the famous "Moscow Virtuosi" under Vladimir Spivakov
in 2003 and 2004. During the 2004-2005 season he appeared as a soloist
with various orchestras, playing on a Stradivarius violin given him on
loan by the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation. Karen is a
laureate of the International Pablo Sarasate Competition (Spain). He
has won scholarships with the David Oistrach and Yuri Yankelevich
Foundations, as well as the Mstislav Rostropovich International
Foundation. Karen has toured widely throughout the USA, Sweden,
South Korea, Armenia and Russia.

Karen Kocharyan, cello

A graduate of the Yerevan Tchaikovsky School of Music (Class of Prof.

Alexander Chaushyan) and Yerevan State Conservatory (class of Prof
Geronty Talalyan). Karen Kocharyan is one of the founding members
of the Khachaturian Trio, first solo cellist of the Armenian Chamber
Players (ACP) and Associate Concertmaster of the Armenian Philharmonic
Orchestra. He has toured with the Armenian Chamber Players and Armenian
Philharmonic Orchestra throughout Europe as soloist. In 2005 Karen
Kocharyan , under the conductor Alexander Ivashkin (UK), appeared
as soloist with the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2006 with
Eduard Topchjan and the Pasadena LAC Symphony Orchestra he took part
in Beethoven’s Triple Concerto. Karen Kocharyan is a highly acclaimed
chamber musician.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress