Armenian Rhapsody

Alexander Harutyunian was born in Yerevan. In 1927 he started studying at Yerevan Conservatory Children's Group and from 1934 to 1941 continued his studies at the Department of Piano and Composition under the tuition of Olga Babasian, Sargis Barkhudaryan and Vardges Talyan. In 1938 he left for Moscow, where he presented his works at the House of Culture of Armenia. In 1939 he became a member of the Armenian Composers' Union. To continue his studies in music composition, Alexander was sent to Moscow Conservatory in 1941. He started teaching at Komitas State Conservatory of Yerevan in 1962, and worked as a Professor from 1977. For composing patriotic songs he was awarded a Gold medal of A. Alexandrov in 1977. Harutyunian was awarded the title of People's Artist of Armenia in 1962 and of the USSR in 1970. In 1987 he was presented with the Honorary Citizen of Yerevan title. Harutyunian died in Yerevan.