Ohannes Tchekidjian ( hy, Հովհաննես Չեքիջյան; born January 23, 1929) is an Armenian composer and conductor and a recipient of both

USSR State Prize 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 ...

and

People's Artist of 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 ...

Biography

Tchekidjian was born in

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

, Turkey and attended Mekhitaryan School there for seven years. From 1941 to 1947 he attended French College of Saint Michel and from 1944 to 1951 worked at both

Istanbul Conservatory ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_in ...

as faculty conductor and as a conductor of the Duryan Choir. From 1951 to 1953 he attended lectures of professor

Jean Fournet Jean Fournet (14 April 1913 – 3 November 2008) was a French flautist and conductor. Fournet was born in Rouen in 1913. His father was a flutist who gave him some instruction on the flute and music theory. Fournet was then trained at the Con ...

at the

École Normale de Musique de Paris The École Normale de Musique de Paris "Alfred Cortot" (ENMP) is a leading conservatoire located in Paris, Île-de-France, France. At the time of the school's foundation in 1919 by Auguste Mangeot, Alfred Cortot. The term ''école normale'' (Engl ...

and during the same years have attended

Institute of Chemistry The Royal Institute of Chemistry was a British scientific organisation. Founded in 1877 as the Institute of Chemistry of Great Britain and Ireland (ICGBI), its role was to focus on qualifications and the professional status of chemists, and its aim ...

where he obtained a minor degree in

chemical engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials int ...

. In 1961 he took postgraduate lessons at the

and then mover to

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 ...

where he worked with the State Academic Choir. Prior to it, he was artistic director and chief conductor of the State Choir of Istanbul, a music director of the

Süreyya Opera House Süreyya Opera House, also called Süreyya Cultural Center ( tr, Süreyya Operası or Süreyya Kültür Merkezi), is an opera hall located at Gen. Asım Gündüz Avenue No: 29, in the Bahariye quarter of the Kadıköy district in Istanbul, Turkey ...

, and was a founder and conductor of his own choir. In 1969 he was awarded an ''Academic title'' from the Armenian State Choir and six years later got an ''Honoured title'' as well. Since 1975 he works at the Komitas State Conservatory 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 ...

where he became a professor by 1982, and from that year till 1987 was a director and chief conductor of the Spendiaryan Academic State Theatre of Opera & Ballet in the same place. Besides being a composer and conductor he also had some political influence in Armenia. From 1975 to 1990 he was a member of

Armenian National Assembly Armenian National Assembly was the governing body of the Armenian millet in the Ottoman Empire, established by the Armenian National Constitution of 1863. Hovanissian, Richard G. (1997) ''The Armenian People from Ancient to Modern Times.'' New Yor ...

in the

Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic,; russian: Армянская Советская Социалистическая Республика, translit=Armyanskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika) also commonly referred to as Soviet A ...

and then was promoted to

Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union The Supreme Soviet of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ( rus, Верховный Совет Союза Советских Социалистических Республик, r=Verkhovnyy Sovet Soyuza Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respubl ...

membership where he served from 1979 to 1984. On April 27, 2010 he conducted ''

Requiem A Requiem or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead ( la, Missa pro defunctis) or Mass of the dead ( la, Missa defunctorum), is a Mass of the Catholic Church offered for the repose of the soul or souls of one or more deceased persons, ...

'' by

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...

at the

Saint Gregory the Illuminator Cathedral, Yerevan The Saint Gregory the Illuminator Cathedral ( hy, Սուրբ Գրիգոր Լուսավորիչ մայր եկեղեցի, ''Surb Grigor Lusavorich mayr yekeghetsi''), also known as the Yerevan Cathedral is the largest cathedral of the Armenian Apo ...

which

Supreme Patriarch Sangharaja (Pāli: ''sangha'' religious community + ''raja'' ruler, king, or prince) is the title given in many Theravada Buddhist countries to a senior monk who is the titular head either of a monastic fraternity ( nikaya), or of the ''Sangha'' t ...

Karekin II Catholicos Karekin II ( hy, Գարեգին Բ, also spelled Garegin; born 21 August 1951) is the current Catholicos of All Armenians, the supreme head of the Armenian Apostolic Church. In 2013 he was unanimously elected the Oriental Orthodox hea ...

have attended.

EDUCATION

COMMUNITY SERVICE

''Has never been a member of a Political Party at any time''

PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND

WORLD TOURS OUT OF THE USSR

References

1929 births Living people Armenian politicians Armenian composers Armenian conductors (music) 20th-century composers 20th-century conductors (music) Musicians from Istanbul 21st-century conductors (music) {{Armenia-politician-stub