Gagik Hovunts

Gagik Hovunts was born in Yerevan. He began his musical education in 1939 at the Alexander Spendiaryan Music School in the violin class of V. Akhsharumyan, and later, in 1946, continued at the Pyotr Tchaikovsky Music School in the class of Karp Dombayev. In 1954, Hovunts graduated from the Yerevan Komitas State Conservatory in violin (class of Karp Dombayev), and in 1957, he completed the composition program in the class of Grigor Yeghiazaryan. Starting in 1964, he taught harmony at the Conservatory, becoming a professor in 1990. His work includes symphonic and chamber pieces, as well as instrumental compositions such as concertos for piano and orchestra and violin and orchestra. Hovunts also composed three series of concert inventions for orchestra, as well as inventions for piano and cello with orchestral accompaniment, instrumental sonatas, and various solo pieces. Hovunts became a member of the Union of Composers of Armenia in 1957. Between 1978 and 1985, four vinyl records of his works were released in Moscow, followed by two compact discs released in Paris in 2008 and 2013. In 1962, he was awarded a first-class diploma in Moscow for his "String Quartet" (1960). In 1984, he was honored with the title of Honored Art Worker of Armenia, and in 2013, he received the 1st Class Medal "For Services to the Fatherland." Gagik Hovunts passed away in Yerevan in 2019.