12–25
August
Yerevan · Armenia
Yerevan · Armenia
Yerevan · Armenia
Sevak Avanesyan is described as "a musician of extraordinary virtuosity and a remarkable range of sound capacities" (Bernard Greenhouse) and "undoubtedly, one of the most gifted musicians of his generation” (Janos Starker).
Born in Armenia in 1989, he moved to Belgium at the age of 13 where he became the youngest graduate of the Royal Conservatory of Brussels. At the age of 19 he graduated with the highest distinction in the class of Viviane Spanoghe.
In 2009 he was accepted in the class of the renowned cellist Claudio Bohorquez at the Hans Eissler Musikhochschule in Berlin. Besides his regular studies, Sevak Avanesyan has received precious advice from world famous artists such as Janos Starker, Bernard Greenhouse, Steven Isserlis, Mischa Maisky, Maria Kliegel, Liuis Claret, Peter Bruns, Garry Hofman, Wolfgang Boettcher, Igor Oistrakh, Artemis Quartet, Gerhard Schulz and many others.
Since his youngest age, he has toured in Europe, USA, Canada and Australia as a member of the "Young Virtuosos" of AMAA. Sevak has won many international competitions, including the First Prize at the “Young Soloists” competition in Luxembourg, First prize at the “Lions Club” European competition, “Golden Lable” prize by the Belgian music press association, first prize winner of “Belgische Stichting Roeping” promotion and many more. Some of his most notable performances were at venues such as the Berlin Philharmonic hall, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Salle Gaveau in Paris, the Ford Hall in Toronto and the Sidney Opera House.
He has participated at notable festivals such as the Festival de Radio France in Montpellier, Menton Festival and the Brahms festival (Brussels) among others. He has also collaborated with great conductors such as Hanns Graf, Hugh Wolf, Andrei Boreyko and the most recent was the world premiere of “DNA 15a15” composed by A.Irandian in Palais des BeauxaArts in Brussels, conducted by George Pehlivanyan. The concert was described as the “best concert of the season” by Belgian TV critics. An ardent chamber musician, Sevak Avanesyan collaborated with Augustin Dumay, Philippe Graffin, Pascal Devoyon, Pavel Gililov, Maxime Vengerov, Aleksei Moshkov and with many great musicians of the younger generation: Alexander Khramuchin, Lily Maisky, Julien Libeer, Alissa Margulis, his brother Hrachya Avanesyan and many others. At the end of 2016 the “Rhythm Intervals” documentary by Gomes Schahbazyan will be premiered, which is about the life of Sevak Avanesyan in Berlin during the period of 2011a 2013. The documentary has already won several festivals and will be aired on ARTR TV.
Since March 2013, Sevak is the Solo cellist of the National Orchestra of Belgium. He plays on “The King” Mateo Gofriller cello from 1689, which is the very first Gofriller cello known. It is kindly given to him by Mischa Maisky.
Sona was born in 1989 in Yerevan, Armenia. She began playing the piano since the age of 7 in Tchaikovsky Music School in her home city. Following 10 years of music school, Sona continued her studies at Yerevan State Conservatory, in the class of Prof. Sergey Saradzhyan, where she received her B.A. and M.A. degrees with excellence (2006-2012). Afterwards, Sona had moved to Germany, Cologne, where she continued her education in Cologne Conservatory, in the class of Prof. Nina Tichman. In 2014 Sona received her 2nd M.A degree, and graduated from Cologne Conservatory in 2016 after receiving her P.H.D. Sona has greatly advanced her professional skills due to master classes delivered by famous musicians Norma Fisher, Vladimir Krainev, Phillippe Cassard, Evgeny Kissin, Tamas Ungar, Arkadiy Zenziper, Vadim Monastirskiy and Leonel Morales.
Sona has given her first solo recital when she was 8. The concert has been a great success, followed by a long sequence of other concerts which paved a way for her prosperous career later on.
Sona is prize-winner in a number of international competitions in Armenia, Georgia, Italy, France and Germany.
In 2007, when Sona was 16, she became the second prize winner of the 2nd International Aram Khachaturian competition. This achievement has reinforced the growing number of invitations to various concerts from Europe.
Two years later, in 2009, she was honored by the President of the Republic of Armenia with “Youth Prize for the achievements in performing classical music”. The medal was handed personally by the President.
Her fruitful career hasn’t lost its pace after moving to Germany. In 2013 Sona became the prize-winner of the International Karl Robert Kreiten competition in Cologne, and the International Amadeo Prix competition in Aachen.
Along with her activities as soloist, Sona also performs as experienced chamber musician. As such, she’s been a guest pianist the International Music Festival in Schlern since 2011. Here, as well as in other music festivals, she has cooperated with such famous musicians as Aleksander Ivashkin, Rossitza Goza, Jurate Svedaite, Gesa Lücker and Alexandre Brussilovsky. As A. Brussilovsky once noted, “Sona is a performer with impressive technique, wonderful sound, and deep and unique musical individuality”.
Throughout her career as a performer, she has been to concerts all around Europe, as well as in United Arab Emirates, Belarus, Georgia, Russia, Australia, USA, etc.
She performed in the concert halls of the Moscow Conservatory, at Carnegie Hall,Independence Theatre in Sydney, Mazzolleni Hall in Toronto.
