Suren Zakarian (1956-); ARM   

Suren Zakarian was born in 1956 in Yerevan, Armenia, and began his formal music training at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, where he studied piano with Professor Lev Vlasenko. After completing his post-graduate studies there in 1983, Suren returned to Armenia, where he studied composition with Edward Mirzoyan at the Yerevan State Conservatory. He is currently a professor of composition, and chairman of the department, at the Yerevan State Conservatory.

Suren has won numerous composition awards, including two awards at the All-Union Composition Competition in Moscow (1985) and 1st Prize at the International Henryk Wieniawski Competition in Poznan Poland (1990, for his Violin Concerto). His works have been performed throughout Armenia, as well as in Russia, Georgia, Ukraine, Poland, Greece, France, and the US. His works have been performed under several outstanding conductors, including Joel Sachs, Emin Khachaturian, Philippe Bender, V.Michnievsky and Vladimir Ponkin - who is likewise featured here at the Classical Archives. Suren's works include several concertos for piano and string instruments, as well as numerous orchestral, chamber, and choral works.