• Tigran Vardanyan violin

    Tigran Vardanyan, violin

    Tigran Vardanyan was born in Yerevan, Armenia. He began his violin studies with his father at the age of six. Later, he attended the Sayat Nova School of Music and the Tchaikovsky Specialized Music School studying with Professors Levon Zorian and Villy Mokazian. While still very young, Tigran was given opportunities to perform as a soloist with the Armenian Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, the Armenian Chamber Orchestra, and the Armenian TV and Radio Orchestra.

    In 1994 Tigran immigrated to the USA to study with the renowned Ukrainian violinist, Abram Shtern, at the Crossroads School for Arts and Sciences in Santa Monica, CA. In 1996 he moved to Rochester, NY to study at the Eastman School of Music with Professor Zvi Zeitlin.

    Tigran is a winner of many competitions and awards, such as First Prize in the 1991 and 1993 Armenian National Competitions, the Gold Medal in the 1992 Amadeus Competition for Young Artists, the Leni Fe Bland Foundation Award, the Maurice Sklar Music Scholarship, the “Encourage” Award from the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, the 1996 and 1997 Starling Foundation Awards at the Eastman School of Music, the Performer’s Certificate from the Eastman School of Music, and two Concerto Competitions as a result of which he performed the Shostakovich Violin Concerto No.1 with the Eastman School Symphony Orchestra under the direction of David Gilbert and the Sibelius Violin Concerto with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Christopher Seaman.

    Since 1998 Tigran has been a member of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. He has served on the faculty at the David Hochstein Memorial Music School (2007-2016), and is a faculty member at Nazareth College and SUNY Oswego.

    In addition to his career with the RPO and as a teacher, Tigran continues to perform as a soloist and chamber musician. His repertoire includes concertos and showpieces by Bach, Brahms, Bruch, Chausson, Glazunov, Khachaturian, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Paganini, Prokofiev, Saint-Saens, Sarasate, Shostakovich, Sibelius, Szymanowski, Vieuxtemps, Vivaldi, Wieniawski, along with various recital programs.

    Tigran performs on a Francesco Gobetti violin (Venice, ca 1720)