La Jolla Music Society to feature cellist Narek Hakhnazaryan

PanARMENIAN.Net - La Jolla Music Society continues this Season’s Discovery Series with young cellist Narek Hakhnazaryan, First Prize Winner at the 2011 International Tchaikovsky Competition, at The Neurosciences Institute on Sunday, March 18.

Already hailed as a “seasoned phenom” in the Washington Post review of his Kennedy Center debut, the Armenian-born cellist is quickly becoming known for his powerful and poetic style. His San Diego program will include Grieg’s Cello Sonata in A Minor, Op. 36, Chopin’s Introduction and Polonaise Brillante, Op. 3, Shostakovich’s Sonata in D Minor for Cello and Piano, Op. 40, and Rostropovich’s Humoresque, Op. 5, San Diego media said.

Narek Hakhnazaryan was born in 1988 in Yerevan, Armenia, into a family of musicians: his father is a violinist and his mother is a pianist. His early studies were at the Sayat-Nova School of Music in Yerevan with Zareh Sarkisyan. At the age of 12, Mr. Hakhnazaryan began studies at the Moscow Conservatory with Alexey Seleznyov. Working with Laurence Lesser, he received an Artist Diploma from the New England Conservatory of Music in 2011.

As a chamber musician, Mr. Hakhnazaryan will perform with the Boston Chamber Music Society and has performed at Ravinia’s Steans Institute; in the Caramoor Festival’s “Rising Stars” series; and at the Young Concert Artists Festival at Chanel’s Nexus Hall in Tokyo. As First Prize winner in the 2008 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, Mr. Hakahnazaryan made his New York debut in the Young Concert Artists Series at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall sponsored by the Jerome L. Greene Foundation, and in Washington, D.C. at the Kennedy Center, both to critical acclaim. Mr. Hakhnazaryan plays a 1698 Tecchler cello, on loan from Valentine Saarmaa, granddaughter of the renowned luthier Jacques Francais.