LORIS TJEKNAVORIAN (born in 1937)

Conductor, Composer
Worked with Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra as the Artistic Director and Principal Conductor in 1989-1998 and 1999-2000.

Loris Tjeknavorian was born in Iran. As composer and conductor, he studied in Austria at the Vienna Academy of Music, at Salzburg Mozarteum with Carl Orff and at the University of Michigan, USA. He has toured throughout Europe, US, North and South Americas. He has made a number of critically acclaimed recordings, and has conducted many of the world’s leading orchestras, such as the London Symphony, the Vienna State Opera, and many others. As a composer, he is represented so far by more than sixty compositions, including five symphonies, two operas, chamber music and a ballet.
During his two tenures with Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra, he extensively toured abroad with the orchestra and organized different music festivals and concerts always met enthusiastically by public. His era is also marked by promoting of the compositions of Armenian contemporary music, commissioning works to Armenian composers (a project supported by AGBU) and giving the podium to conductors from all over the world. Under his direction the orchestra also expanded its recording activities, to include numerous releases on ASV, Hyper Arts Products and ORF labels.