Armenian Culture Ministry in talks with Aram Gharabekian’s family
Armenia’s Culture Ministry is in talks with the family of renowned conductor Aram Gharabekian about whether or not his body will be moved to Armenia. Panorama.am was informed about it by the Ministry.
Aram Gharabekian died Friday in the United States at the age of 58.
He was an Armenian conductor, former Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the National Chamber Orchestra of Armenia. In 1983, Gharabekian founded and until 1991 directed and conducted the Boston SinfoNova Orchestra.
Gharabekian was formerly the Principal Guest Conductor of the NRCU Symphony Orchestra in Kiev. He led them in recording their first Compact Disc, featuring Sergei Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet, which was released in 1996 on Russian Disc's "Audiophile Series." Following a critically acclaimed guest appearance with the Ukrainian National Symphony Orchestra in 1991, Maestro Gharabekian was invited by the Ukrainian Minister of Culture to assume the position of Artistic Advisor and Conductor.
Active as a guest conductor, Gharabekian had been the Principal Guest Conductor of the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, and appeared with the Sinfonietta München. He also led the Ukrainian National Symphony, the Ukrainian State Opera and Ballet, the West Ukrainian Philharmonic, Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra, Shreveport Symphony Orchestra, Fresno Philharmonic, Zhejiang Symphony Orchestra and Hangzhou Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. On New Year's Eve in 1999 Gharabekian led an orchestra and chorus in Hangzhou, China of 300 musicians from 6 countries in a televised millennium celebration concert featuring Beethoven's 9th Symphony.
He graduated from the New England Conservatory in Boston, then continued his postgraduate studies at Mainz University in Germany. He studied conducting with Franco Ferrara in Italy, and in 1979 became one of a few conducting pupils of the famous Sergiu Celibidache in Germany. Gharabekian also studied composition and conducting under Jacob Druckman and Leonard Bernstein at Tanglewood Music Center in Massachusetts.