Composer Edgar Hovhannisian would be 80
Composer Edgar Hovhannisian, People's Artist of the USSR, would be 80 on January 14, 2010.
Representatives of the Armenian Ministry of Culture will visit his tomb to commemorate the great composer.
Edgar Hovhannisian graduated after Yerevan State Conservatory in 1953, then pursued post-graduate work at the Moscow Conservatory, where he worked under famed Armenian composer Aram Khachaturian. Yerevan in 1962-1968 he was the director of the State Opera and Ballet Theater.
Edgar Hovhannisian headed Yerevan State Conservatory in 1986-1992.
Hovhannisian is widely considered among the most influential Armenian composers of the 20th century. He is the author of ballets, including "Janna D'Ark", "Sulamif", and "Marmar". He also experimented with various musical styles, including neo-classical, folk-based styles, and even jazz - such as in the "Concert Variations for Saxophone and Jazz Orchestra", opera ("The Travel to Arzrum"), various vocal-orchestral works (e.g. the oratorio "Grikor Naregatsi", the hymn of Yerevan), and numerous film scores.
