Edgar Hovhannisyan, Hovhannisian or Oganesian ( hy, Էդգար Հովհաննիսյան; January 14, 1930,

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Y ...

– December 28, 1998,

) was an

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 ''Ox ...

n composer, Professor of Composition at the

Yerevan State Conservatory Komitas State Conservatory of Yerevan ( hy, Երևանի Կոմիտասի անվան պետական կոնսերվատորիա), also known as Yerevan Komitas State Conservatory (YKSC) or Yerevan State Conservatory (YSC), is a state-owned colleg ...

People's Artist of the USSR People's Artist of the USSR ( rus, Народный артист СССР, Narodny artist SSSR), also sometimes translated as National Artist of the USSR, was an honorary title granted to artists of the Soviet Union. Nomenclature and significan ...

(1986). He finished the

in 1953, then pursued post-graduate work at the

Moscow Conservatory The Moscow Conservatory, also officially Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory (russian: Московская государственная консерватория им. П. И. Чайковского, link=no) is a musical educational inst ...

, where he worked under famed Armenian composer Aram Khachaturian. He was the director of the State Opera and Ballet Theater in Yerevan in 1962–1968. Hovhannisyan is widely considered among the most influential Armenian composers of the 20th century. He is the author of ballets, including "Janna D'Ark", "Sulamif", and "Marmar". He also experimented with various musical styles, including neo-classical, folk-based styles, and even jazz — such as in the "Concert Variations for Saxophone and Jazz Orchestra", opera ("The Travel to Arzrum"), various vocal-orchestral works (e.g. the oratorio "Grikor Naregatsi", the hymn of

), and numerous film scores.

Awards

State Prize of the USSR The USSR State Prize (russian: links=no, Государственная премия СССР, Gosudarstvennaya premiya SSSR) was the Soviet Union's state honor. It was established on 9 September 1966. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, t ...

(1979), *State Prize of Armenian SSR (1967).

Filmography

*''Huso astgh'' (1978) *''Aprum er mi mard'' (1968) *''Patvi hamar'' (1956)

Sources

BiographyBiography (in Russian)Hovhannisyan at IMDB
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hovhannisyan, Edgar 1930 births 1998 deaths Musicians from Yerevan Armenian composers 20th-century composers Male composers Moscow Conservatory alumni 20th-century male musicians