Gevorg Achemyan

Born in Baku. He received his initial education in Baku, under Professor Semyon Britanitsky. In 1937 Achemyan moved with his family to Iran, where he studied with Ruben Grigoryan and then with Karl Zubek. In 1946 the Achemyan family repatriated to Armenia, to Yerevan. In the same year he entered the Yerevan Komitas Conservatory (class of Professor Vitold Portugalov). After graduating from the conservatory in 1951, for 2 years he taught violin at the Nikoghayos Tigranyan Music School in Leninakan (Gyumri) and at the same time at the Kara-Murza Music College. From 1953 he worked at the Tchaikovsky Music School in Yerevan. In 1958 he founded and led his unprecedented violinists' ensemble, which from 1962 began giving concerts in many cities of the USSR. In 1970 the violinists' ensemble became the ensemble of the State Committee for Television and Radio of the Republic. Because no musical literature existed for a violinists' ensemble, he composed, transcribed and arranged numerous large and small works. These works by Achemyan were very highly appreciated by Dmitri Shostakovich, Tikhon Khrennikov, Aram Khachaturian and others. In 1977 Gevorg Achemyan was awarded the title of People's Artist of the Armenian SSR. In 1988, after Achemyan's death, the ensemble was named after Gevorg Achemyan. In 1998-2010 the ensemble was led by his widow, Anahit Achemyan, and from 2010 to the present the Gevorg Achemyan Violinists' Ensemble has been led by his daughter, Anna Achemyan. In 2003-2015 Anahit and Anna Achemyan edited and published Gevorg Achemyan's manuscripts (5 volumes). In 2011 Anna Achemyan wrote a book about her father, Gevorg Achemyan, entitled "Gevorg Achemyani yergogh jutaknery" ("The Singing Violins of Gevorg Achemyan"). He died in Yerevan.