Armen Babakhanian Armenia
Jury Chairman
A prize-winner at several of the world's most prestigious international piano competitions including the Leeds, the Van Cliburn, the Guardian Dublin, the William Kappell, the Gina Bachauer, and the World Piano Competition, Armen Babakhanian has captured the imagination of the audiences and the critics alike through the intensity and honesty of his performances.
Mr. Babakhanian has given recitals in the USA, Canada, Japan, the UK, Germany, Austria, Italy, France and Spain. He has appeared as soloist with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under Sir Simon Rattle, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Irish National Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra (USA), Dallas Symphony, Utah Symphony, with Saint Petersburg Philharmonic under Yuri Temirkanov, with Moscow Philharmonic under Valery Gergiev, Russian Philharmonic Orchestra under Yurovsky, Slovenian Philharmonic and Israel Philharmonic among others.
Festival appearances include the Aspen, Interlochen, Santander and Baalbec Music festivals. Babakhanian's performance of the Shostakovich Piano Quintet with the Takács Quartet during Santander Festival in Spain was named the best chamber music performance of the festival. Mr. Babakhanian has recorded for the ASV, Real Sound and Sigmund Classics labels. His performances have been broadcast on BBC, PBS (USA), ORF (Austria) and RAI (Italy) television networks. His recording of the Tchaikovsky piano sonatas has received rave reviews in the European press. Mr. Babakhanian's recent recording of Complete Piano Works by Aram Khachaturian was awarded the “Best Classical Album of the Year” at the Armenian Award 2007.
In addition to his performing career, Mr. Babakhanian has served as jury member for several international piano competitions, including the Gina Bachauer, Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff, Khachaturian and most recently Maria Callas International Piano competitions. He has taught numerous masterclasses in Russia, United Kingdom, Spain, Japan, China, Iceland and the United States. Mr. Babakhanian is currently an Artist-in-Residence at the Yerevan Komitas State Conservatory, where he also received his musical education under Professor Anahit Bogdanyan.
In 2012 A. Babakhanian became Dean of Piano Department at Yerevan State Conservatory. He has recently launched the historical recording project “Anthology of Armenian Piano Music” which includes more than 60 CD's and covers almost entire heritage of Armenian piano music within two centuries. During last concert season Mr. Babakhanian has been scheduled to perform recitals and concerto appearances as well as give master classes in Germany, Italy, Slovenia, Switzerland, France, Lithuania, Mexico, Iceland, Russia, USA, Canada, China, Korea and Japan.
In 2008 Babakhanian was awarded Gold Medal by Ministry of Culture of RA for great contribution to the Diaspora-Armenia relations. In 2009 Mr. Babakhanian was awarded Artist Emeritus from the President of Republic of Armenia.