World-famous Armenian violinist Sergey Khachatryan will open the 12th Yerevan International Music Festival on 10 September.

Aram Khachaturian Concert Hall is set to host the solemn opening of the festival, Panorama.am was informed from the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra’s official website.

The event is dedicated to the 2800th anniversary of Yerevan and to the 100 anniversary of the First Republic of Armenia.

The program of the opening concert features Violin Concerto by Johannes Brahms and Symphony No.9 by Ludwig van Beethoven. It will be conducted by Eduard Topchjan.

The artistic directors of the Yerevan music festival are Alexander Chaushian and Eduard Topchjan.

Born in Yerevan, Armenia, Sergey Khachatryan won First Prize at the VIII International Jean Sibelius Competition in Helsinki in 2000, becoming the youngest ever winner in the history of the competition. In 2005 he claimed First Prize at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels.

In recent seasons, Sergey has performed with such major orchestras as the Bamberger Symphoniker (Herbert Blomstedt and Jonathan Nott), Münchner Philharmoniker (James Gaffigan), Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra (Valcuha), Mariinsky Orchestra (Valery Gergiev) and Orchestre de Paris (Andris Nelsons and Gianandrea Noseda). He has also collaborated with the Berliner Philharmoniker, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Radio Filharmonisch Orkest, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Orchestre National de France, London Symphony, London Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra, NHK Symphony and the Sydney and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras.

Sergey’s most recent appearances in the US were with the Seattle Symphony (Ludovic Morlot), Los Angeles Philharmonic (Morlot) and National Symphony Orchestra Washington (Vasily Petrenko). He has also visited the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra and San Francisco Symphony as well as the Ravinia, Blossom and Mostly Mozart Festivals.