Hovhannes Parajanyan

He was born in Tbilisi. In 1929 he moved to Yerevan. The first school teacher of Onik (as those close to him called him) was Professor Olga Hayrapeti Babasyan. In May 1940 Parajanyan successfully graduated from the Yerevan Conservatory. Already in his school years he worked as an accompanist. After the war, from 1946, he was for many years the accompanist of Armenian Radio and Television. In 1967 he was awarded the title of Honored Artist of Armenia. From 1940 he worked as an accompanist, and from the 1970s he led the accompaniment class at the Tchaikovsky Music School. From 1970 he taught in the piano department (professor from 1980). In 1990–1991 he headed the piano chair of the Yerevan Komitas Conservatory. He died in Yerevan.