Anahid Marguerite Ajemian (January 26, 1924 – June 13, 2016)
was an American violinist of
Armenia
Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ' ...
n descent. Her career in contemporary
music
Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...
began from her desire to help young composers of her generation get their compositions performed. Additionally, she enjoyed performing the music of established contemporary performers. She included these composers with the traditional repertoire in her performances.
Early life and education
Ajemian was born in Manhattan on January 26, 1924, to Armenian immigrant parents. Her father was a physician and her mother a pianist.
She began her music studies early at the
Institute of Musical Art, which later merged with the
Juilliard School
The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most elit ...
. After graduating from the Lincoln School, Ajemian continued her education at the Juilliard School, studying violin with
Édouard Dethier and chamber music with
Hans Letz and
Felix Salmon
Felix Salmon (born 1972) is a financial journalist, formerly of ''Portfolio Magazine'' and ''Euromoney'' and a former finance blogger for Reuters, where he analyzed economic and occasionally social issues in addition to financial commentary. In Apr ...
, and played in the Juilliard orchestra under
Albert Stoessel
Albert Frederic Stoessel (October 11, 1894 – May 12, 1943) was an American composer, violinist and conductor.
Biography
He was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1894. He studied music at the Berlin Hochschule as a pupil of Emanuel Wirth and ...
and
Edgar Shenkman.
Musical career
In 1946, while still a student of
Édouard Dethier at the
Juilliard Graduate School of Music, Ajemian won the
Walter W. Naumburg Foundation Award. In the same year, she made her debut at Town Hall and received the Distinguished Achievement Medal from
Mademoiselle magazine as the
Young Woman of the Year in Music. Among the many honors that have followed, the
Order of St. James appointed her a Knight of Malta for her lifelong support of contemporary classical music.
With her pianist sister
Maro Ajemian, she performed in
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
and throughout the United States in a wide repertoire including works which were written for them by such distinguished composers as
John Cage,
Henry Cowell,
Alan Hovhaness
Alan Hovhaness (; March 8, 1911 – June 21, 2000) was an American- Armenian composer. He was one of the most prolific 20th-century composers, with his official catalog comprising 67 numbered symphonies (surviving manuscripts indicate over 70) a ...
,
Ernst Krenek
Ernst Heinrich Krenek (, 23 August 1900 – 22 December 1991) was an Austrian, later American, composer of Czech origin. He explored atonality and other modern styles and wrote a number of books, including ''Music Here and Now'' (1939), a study ...
,
Lou Harrison
Lou Silver Harrison (May 14, 1917 – February 2, 2003) was an American composer, music critic, music theorist, painter, and creator of unique musical instruments. Harrison initially wrote in a dissonant, ultramodernist style similar to his for ...
,
Wallingford Riegger
Wallingford Constantine Riegger ( ; April 29, 1885 – April 2, 1961) was an American modernist composer and pianist, best known for his orchestral and modern dance music. He was born in Albany, Georgia, but spent most of his career in New York Ci ...
,
Carlos Surinach, and
Ben Weber. Together and separately, the Ajemian sisters recorded extensively for Columbia, RCA Victor, MGM and Composers Records, Inc. They were the first musicians to receive the
Laurel Leaf Award of the
Composers Alliance for Distinguished Service to American Music.
Ajemian and her sister were equally known for their interpretations of the standard classical repertoire. A unique feature of the many television programs they taped for NBC’s ''
Recital Hall'' and the
National Educational Television
National Educational Television (NET) was an American educational broadcast television network owned by the Ford Foundation and later co-owned by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. It operated from May 16, 1954 to October 4, 1970, and ...
Network was their series of programs comprising the complete cycle of all ten Beethoven Sonatas for Violin and Piano. They appeared as soloists under the batons of
Dimitri Mitropoulos
Dimitri Mitropoulos ( el, Δημήτρης Μητρόπουλος; The dates 18 February 1896 and 1 March 1896 both appear in the literature. Many of Mitropoulos's early interviews and program notes gave 18 February. In his later interviews, howe ...
,
Leopold Stokowski
Leopold Anthony Stokowski (18 April 1882 – 13 September 1977) was a British conductor. One of the leading conductors of the early and mid-20th century, he is best known for his long association with the Philadelphia Orchestra and his appear ...
and
Izler Solomon
Izler Solomon (January 11, 1910 – December 6, 1987) was an American orchestra conductor, active mostly in the Midwest.
Career
Born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Izler Solomon's first position as music director was
from 1936 to 1941 with the Illinoi ...
, and recorded with the latter two.
Also during the 1940s, Ajemian co-founded the New York City-based organization Friends of Armenian Music Committee, which did much to launch the career of fellow Armenian-American composer
Alan Hovhaness
Alan Hovhaness (; March 8, 1911 – June 21, 2000) was an American- Armenian composer. He was one of the most prolific 20th-century composers, with his official catalog comprising 67 numbered symphonies (surviving manuscripts indicate over 70) a ...
, via a series of well-received New York concerts of his music. These concerts were repeated in Boston, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Ajemian and her husband,
George Avakian
George Mesrop Avakian (; russian: Геворк Авакян; March 15, 1919 – November 22, 2017) was an American record producer, artist manager, writer, educator and executive. Best known for his work from 1939 to the early 1960s at Decca Re ...
, started Music for Moderns, a Town Hall, in 1957.
In the mid-sixties, Ajemian and her fellow violinist
Matthew Raimondi founded the
Composers String Quartet The Composers String Quartet was a string quartet best known for performances of new works by contemporary composers, including quartets by Elliott Carter and Ruth Crawford Seeger. Carter's Fourth Quartet was dedicated to the Composers Quartet, who ...
at the suggestion of
Gunther Schuller
Gunther Alexander Schuller (November 22, 1925June 21, 2015) was an American composer, conductor, horn player, author, historian, educator, publisher, and jazz musician.
Biography and works
Early years
Schuller was born in Queens, New York City ...
, which quickly earned an international reputation and toured in more than 26 countries, including the Soviet Union, India, the Middle East, Africa, Australia, Japan, Southeast Asia and China. The Composers String Quartet recorded extensively for the
Musical Heritage Society,
Nonesuch Records
Nonesuch Records is an American record company and label owned by Warner Music Group, distributed by Warner Records (formerly called Warner Bros. Records), and based in New York City. Founded by Jac Holzman in 1964 as a budget classical label, No ...
,
Composers Recordings, Inc. and
Columbia Records among many others. The Quartet’s 1970 recording of
Elliott Carter
Elliott Cook Carter Jr. (December 11, 1908 – November 5, 2012) was an American modernist composer. One of the most respected composers of the second half of the 20th century, he combined elements of European modernism and American "ultra- ...
’s "First and Second Quartets" was honored by a Grammy nomination, received “Stereo Review’s “Best Chamber Music Recording of the Year” Award, and was acclaimed by ''
High Fidelity'' as “Best Quartet of the Year” and one of the “Fifty Greatest Albums of the Decade.” ''Time'' magazine called it “an astonishingly brilliant and unique achievement.”
Teaching
The Quartet was in residence at
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
in New York City and the
New England Conservatory of Music
The New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) is a private music school in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the oldest independent music conservatory in the United States and among the most prestigious in the world. The conservatory is located on H ...
in Boston, Massachusetts. For many years, they were the primary performers at the
Mt Desert Festival of Chamber Music in
Northeast Harbor, Maine
Northeast Harbor is a village on Mount Desert Island, located in the town of Mount Desert in Hancock County, Maine, United States.
The original settlers, the Someses and Richardsons, arrived around 1761.
The village has a significant summe ...
.
Ajemian was a long-time member of the
Columbia University music faculty and served as a judge for several music organizations, including the annual
Naumburg Foundation Awards.
Personal life
She was married to
George Avakian
George Mesrop Avakian (; russian: Геворк Авакян; March 15, 1919 – November 22, 2017) was an American record producer, artist manager, writer, educator and executive. Best known for his work from 1939 to the early 1960s at Decca Re ...
, a record producer and founding officer of the
National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences
The Recording Academy (formally the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences; abbreviated NARAS) is an American learned academy of musicians, producers, recording engineers, and other musical professionals. It is famous for its Grammy Aw ...
. They had three children: Maro, Anahid and Gregory.
References
External links
*
George Avakian and Anahid Ajemian papers, 1908–2013Music Division, The New York Public Library.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ajemian, Anahid
1924 births
Musicians from New York City
American classical violinists
American classical musicians of Armenian descent
Contemporary classical music performers
Juilliard School alumni
Columbia University faculty
2016 deaths
Classical musicians from New York (state)
Women classical violinists