Born in 1982 in Yerevan, Armenia,
Haik Kazazyan he entered the Sayat-Nova Music school at age seven, and at age
twelve won the first prize in the National Violin Competition. He then won the
was awarded the Gold medal and Grand Prix at the Amadeus-95 Violin Competition
in Yerevan, which resulted in several invitations to give concerts in Europe.
In 1996, he moved from Yerevan to Moscow where he began to study with Professor
Grach (a pupil of Gnessin) at the Moscow Conservatory. He has since won awards
at many competitions including the prestigious Tchaikovsky in Moscow, the Yampolsky,
the All-Russia “New Names” Competition, the Wieniawski in Poland
and, in 2004, the Sion-Valais Competition in Switzerland.
He has given numerous concerts in Moscow, particularly in the Moscow Conservatoire
and at the Tchaikovsky Hall, and is a soloist of the Moscow Philharmonic Society.
He has also given concerts in the USA (including at the Aspen Festival in 2004),
in Japan and in England, Germany, Holland and Switzerland. Later this season,
he will perform with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra in St Petersburg, as well
as with the Orchestra of the Meiningen Theatre.
In February 2004, he made his debut with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra,
and has been invited back in 2005. He will also perform with the National Symphony
Orchestra of Dublin in October 2004.
Mr. Kazazyan is represented by IMG Artists.
" ... the astonishing 22-year-old violinist Haik Kazazyan, whose brilliantly
assured technique in Kahachaturian's Violin Concerto was formidable"
– The Herald
Alexandre Bouzlov was born in Moscow,
and began cello studies at the age of six.. At fourteen, he performed at Mstislav
Rostropovich’s 70th birthday concert and was invited by Rostropovich to
participate in the Second International Cello Congress. At seventeen, he won
First Prize in the 2001 Young Concert Artists International Auditions.
Young Concert Artists then presented recital debuts in New York at the 92nd
Street Y, in Washington, DC at the Kennedy Center, and in Boston at the Isabella
Stewart Gardner Museum.
Mr. Bouzlov has performed as soloist with numerous Russian orchestras, including
the Moscow Symphony Orchestra conducted by Alexandre Vedernikov, the Virtuosos
of Moscow Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Spivakov, the Ulianovsk Symphony,
the Saratov Symphony, the Kaliningrad Philharmonic and the Yaroslavl Philharmonic,
as well as several orchestras in the U.S. He has performed at the Barbican Centre
in London, as well as in Germany, the Czech Republic, France, Switzerland, Macedonia,
Norway, Belgium, Austria, Israel, Scotland, Ireland, Japan, South Korea, and
Malaysia.
Currently studying at the Moscow Conservatory with Natalya Gutman, in 2002 he
received two special prizes from the “New Names” Foundation, and
has captured First Prizes in the 2000 “New Names” Competition in
Moscow, the 2000 Young Concert Artists European Auditions in Leipzig, the 1997
Virtuosos of the 21st Century Competition in St. Petersburg, and the 1996 Mozart
International Music Competition in Monte Carlo.
“A cellist with a huge capacity to make the instrument sing”
- New York Times
Alexander Sitkovetsky
was born in Moscow in 1983, and took his first violin lessons at the age of
six. In 1991 he made his debut as a soloist and was invited to study at the
Yehudi Menuhin School. Lord Menuhin became a great inspiration for Alexander
and supported him through his school years. Together they performed the Bach
Double Violin Concerto in France and Belgium, as well as Bartok’s Duos
at St James’s Palace in London. In 1996, Alexander played Mendelssohn’s
Violin Concerto in Budapest with Lord Menuhin conducting. He has also performed
at such European music festivals as the Radio France Festival, the Festa Torino,
the Oldenburg Music Festival and the Verbier Music Festival in Switzerland.
His Wigmore Hall debut recital in 2001 was much acclaimed. He has also been
featured at such famous venues as The Royal Festival Hall, the Barbican (with
the London Soloists Orchestra), Buckingham Palace (for Queen Elizabeth, the
Prince of Wales and Princess Diana), Wigmore Hall, Salla Verdi in Milan, Palais
des Congres in Antibes, and the Great Hall of the Conservatoire in Moscow. In
America he has performed at the Newport Music Festival and at the Frick Collection
Mr. Sitkovetsky is an EMI/Angel recording artist.
“Sitkovetsky has a terrific technique to be sure, but his confident,
entirely natural musicianship is what sets him apart from the crowd.”-
Gramophone
Arus Atshemyan was born
in 1983 into a family of musicians in Yerevan, Armenia. At age 12 she began
winning music competitions, and graduated from the Komitas Conservatory.
Since age 14, she has been a frequent soloist with the Armenian Philharmonic
Orchestra, performing concerti by Saint-Saens, Prokofiev, Ravel, Rachmaninoff
and Mozart. In 1998 she won First Prize at “Talented Young Musicians 98”,
and in 2000 Arus Atshemyan was awarded the First and Special Prizes at the Arno
Babajanian Competition of Young Pianists.
Atshemyan has participated in such festivals as the Colmar Festival in France,
the International Oxford Festival in England, and the Modena Festival in Italy.
In February of 2002 she took the First Prize of the International Cultural Exchange
Fund, performing in Moscow’s Kremlin Hall . She has performed concerti
with such orchestras as the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, the Murfreesboro Philharmonic
and the “Moscow Virtuosi” under Vladimir Spivakov.
Arus has toured extensively with concerts and recitals throughout the US, France,
Lebanon, England,Greece, Egypt, Cyprus, and Italy, and in 2003 toured Brazil
and Uruguay.
All of 13 years old,
and a student at the Yerevan Spendiaryan music school and the Cologne Music
High school, Mr. Arakelian has already won prizes at at many Armenian, Russian
and international competitions, such as the National Saxophone Competition (Armenia),
Saxophone International Competition (France), International Wind Instruments
Competition (France), International Saxophone Competitions in Ukraine and France,
and the Second Youth Delphic Games (Moldova).
He has participated in such festivals as the Adolphe Sax Saxophone Festival,
Festival of Slavic Art in Val d’Oise (France), “Aram Khachaturian-100”
(U.S.A.), in Hamilton (Canada), in Tarragona (Spain), “Palaces of Saint-Petersburg”
(Russia) and “One Nation, One Culture” (Armenia, 2004).
Arakelian’s sponsors include the “New Names” Program, the
Vladimir Spivakov International Charitable Foundation, and the Aram Khachaturian
Fund. He has performed in concerts in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany,
Austria, Czech Republic, Spain, Slovenia, Greece, Russia, Ukraine, Georgia,
USA., Canada, UK, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and UAE.
Born in 1987, Andrei
Gugnin has been involved in music since age seven. He finished The Child Music
School of The Academic Music College at The Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatoire.
Gugnin has won prizes in the television competition ''The Young Moscow Musicians'',
the Moscow international festival of young piano-players, international child's
''The Olympiad of Muses,'' and the Fifth International Young Soloists Festival.
He was the winner of the first ''The New Names,'' an all-Russian competition
of young musicians, and the grand prize winner of the first international competition
of pianists in Saratov. He won the prize in the Music category of the All-Russian
Literatary-Artistic Competition with his essay ''Russia: The dialog with the
future,'' and has held a scholarship from the Guzik Foundation since 2003.
Andrei Gugnin has performed in the Bolshoi, Malyi, and Rakhmaninovsky Moscow
Conservatoire halls, and The Moscow International Music Home. He has performed
with The Moscow State Symphonic Orchestra, The Symphonic Orchestra of The Academic
Music Colleage at The Moscow State Conservatoire, The Dutch National Orchestra,
and has given concerts in of Russia, Germany, Israel, and the Netherlands.
Narek Akhnazarian was
born in 1988 to a family of musicians in Yerevan. In 2000 he entered the school
of music at the musical college of the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, and
currently studies at the Academic Music College of the Moscow State Conservatory.
He is a laureate of several competitions: the First Republic Competition of
Young performers (1998, Armenia), as well as the Fourth (2002, China) and Fifth
(2004, Japan) Interneational Tchaikovsky Competitions of Young musicians. He
is a beneficiary of the “New Names” benevolent programs of Armenia
and Russia, and is a scholarship holder of the Russian Ministry of Culture and
the Aram Khachaturyan Fund.
Mr. Akhnazarian has appeared with both chamber and symphony orchestras, and
has had concert tours in Russia, USA, France, Germany, Austria, Greece and Slovakia.