SPENDIAROV, ALEXANDER (1871–1928)

Mikael Ayrapetyan is a pianist, composer, producer and teacher, as well as a researcher and public figure. He has done much to popularise Armenian classical music all over the world with his Secrets of Armenia musical project, which began during his studies at the Moscow Conservatory. Born in 1984 in Yerevan, Armenia, he studied at the Moscow Tchaikovsky State Conservatory, and continues to uphold the performing traditions of the Russian piano school, of which Konstantin Igumnov, Samuel Feinberg and Lev Oborin are luminaries. His repertoire ranges from the Baroque to the contemporary and includes rarely performed works by Armenian composers. This period was the start of his extensive concert activity in which he performs works by Tigranian, Chukhadjian, Komitas, Melikian, Spendiarian, Barkhudarian, Stepanian, Khachaturian, Babajanian, Arutyunian, Abrahamian, Bagdasarian, Avetisian, Mirzoyan, Amirkhanian and many other Armenian composers, which eventually led him to produce his own concerts. He was awarded the State Prize of the Republic of Armenia for his outstanding contribution to the development and popularisation of Armenian classical music.

Yulia Ayrapetyan is a US-based pianist, producer and pedagogue. She has attracted international recognition for her exceptional artistry, displaying striking assurance, imagination, artistic approach, and remarkable consistency in the musical integrity and creative insight of her performances. Born in 1988 in Bryansk, Russia, she studied in Moscow, and continues to uphold the performing traditions of the Russian piano school. Her repertoire ranges from the Baroque to the contemporary and includes rarely performed works by Armenian composers. She performed the US, Chinese, Europe, Russian and Armenian premieres of forgotten Armenian piano music, which she rediscovered. She actively supports and participates in recordings and concerts for her husband Mikael Ayrapetyan’s project, Secrets of Armenia.

Russian and Armenian musical elements are successfully combined in the music of Alexander Spendiarov. An apprentice of Rimsky-Korsakov and a close friend of Glazunov, Spendiarov was a master orchestrator and an inventive instrumentalist whose music is saturated with the folk music of the region and boundless lyricism. His works undoubtedly reflect the creative assimilations and traditions of the Russian classical music school, and above all, that of Rimsky-Korsakov. He expanded the ideological and thematic range of Armenian music, and enriched its means of expression by raising the level of musical professionalism in Armenia.