Fire Dance

Born in Jerusalem. O. Duryan received his early education at a German boarding school in Nazareth, Israel, where he also learned to play the flute, after which he entered a secondary school in Jerusalem. Alongside general subjects he took lessons in harmony, piano and organ. In 1939 he finished secondary school, and until 1941 attended individual music courses. In 1939-45 he studied in the composition and conducting departments of the Jerusalem Conservatory, while also learning to play the organ. In 1946 he went to Zurich, Switzerland, to continue his musical education. To perfect his skills further he moved to Vienna and then to Paris. He founded the first Armenian choir in Jerusalem and conducted the Jerusalem Radio Symphony Orchestra. In 1957 His Holiness Vazgen I invited him to Armenia. In 1957-60 he was conductor of the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra, and in 1960-65 and 1972-74 artistic director and chief conductor of the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1967-74 and 1991-94 he was founder and artistic director of the Symphony Orchestra of the State Committee for Television and Radio of Armenia; in 1971-72 and 1999-2002 chief conductor of the A. Spendiaryan National Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre in Yerevan; and in 1987-90 music director of the Avignon Opera and chief conductor of its symphony orchestra. In 2002 the conductor went to Moscow to take over the leadership of the Moscow Symphony Orchestra, and in 2008 he returned to his homeland once again. In 1967 O. Duryan was awarded the title of People's Artist of Armenia. He was awarded the Movses Khorenatsi Order of the RA in 1996 and the Mesrop Mashtots Order of the RA in 1997, and in 1998 was made a Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters of France. He died in Yerevan.