Hayk Melikyan ( hy, Հայկ Մելիքյան; born November 29, 1980, in

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 ...

) is 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 ...

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

. He is widely known as one of the best performers of 20th century and

contemporary classical music Contemporary classical music is classical music composed close to the present day. At the beginning of the 21st century, it commonly referred to the post-1945 modern forms of post-tonal music after the death of Anton Webern, and included seria ...

Life and career

Melikyan was born in Yerevan. He is the grandson of renowned poet, translator and publicist Sokrat Khanyan. Melikyan's two recent solo albums were released by NAXOS Grand Piano label: complete piano solo compositions of

Arno Babadjanian Arno Harutyunovich Babajanian ( hy, Առնո Բաբաջանյան; russian: Арно Арутюнович Бабаджанян; January 22, 1921 – November 11, 1983) was a Soviet and Armenian composer and pianist. He was made a People's Artist o ...

and Alexander Arutiunian. In 2013, he performed in Germany with Karine Gilanyan in dedication of the then upcoming 100th anniversary of the

Armenian genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was ...

. Melikyan regularly performs on prestigious stages of the world including Gulbenkian Grand Auditorium (

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), Victoria Hall (

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

), Aram Khachaturian Grand Concert Hall (

), etc. In 2009, Hayk Melikyan initiated « 1900+» World Piano Music Concerts Series of the 20th Century and Contemporary Music.

Awards

* IBLA Grand Prize International Piano Competition: Special prize (

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, 1999). * Valentino Bucchi International Piano Competition of Twentieth Century and Contemporary Music: 2nd prize (

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, 2000). * Yvar Mikhashoff Trust for New Music ( Buffalo,

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, 2012). * Orléans International Piano Competition: Samson François prize (

Orléans Orléans (;"Orleans"
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, 2008). * Lazar Saryan Composers Competition: 1st prize (

, 2008). * Orléans International Piano Competition: André Boucourechliev prize (

, 2012). * Gold Medal of Moscow Composers Union: for his contribution and promotion of the World Contemporary Music (

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, 2012). * Honorary Artist of Armenia (2013). * Hayk Melikyan's solo album «Arutiuanian: Complete Piano Works» by NAXOS Grand Piano label was selected as The Best Classical Music Album of the Year within the

Swallow Music Awards Swallow Music Awards ( hy, Ծիծեռնակ երաժշտական մրցանակաբաշխություն, Tsitsernak yerazhshtakan mrcanakabashkhutiun) is an annual national music awards ceremony first held in Yerevan, Armenia, on 25 March 2017. T ...

(2018).

Quotes

* Barry Brenesal (

Fanfare Magazine ''Fanfare'' is an American bimonthly magazine devoted to reviewing recorded music in all playback formats. It mainly covers classical music, but since inception, has also featured a jazz column in every issue. History and profile ''Fanfare'' was ...

Hayk Melikyan has power and agility to spare, with plenty of attention to inner voicings. He is never at a loss for style or direction in any of this music, which is pretty impressive when you consider that it really represents two very different styles.

References

Links

Official Website

Hayk Melikyan at the Armenian National Music website

NAXOS E-Card
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Melikyan, Hayk Armenian classical pianists Living people Musicians from Yerevan 1980 births Armenian composers 21st-century classical pianists