BOSTON — Many stars have graced the stage of Carnegie Hall, including Armenians such as Charles Aznavour, Tigran Hamasyan, and the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra. Joining their ranks on March 3, will be pianist Tigran Mardanyan, 20, performing in Musical Armenia, the annual concert presented by the Eastern Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America. The program features composer and pianist Grigori Balasanyan who will be playing some of his own compositions and Khachaturian, while Mardanyan will be performing pieces by Mozart, Carl Vine, and Franck.
Mardanyan is a native of Yerevan, Armenia, and is currently a third year student at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee under the tutelage of Michael Lewin. Boston Conservatory at Berklee is widely considered among the top 10 universities in the United States for music. In Armenia, Mardanyan studied at the Alexander Spendiaryan Specialized Music School with Professor Vagharshak Harutyunyan. Mardanyan’s journey from Armenia to Boston was rather unexpected – he had not planned to study in the U.S. but, upon encouragement from his family, applied and was accepted to the Boston Conservatory at Berklee’s Classical Piano Performance faculty. It’s a rather small department, comprising roughly 40 students, with Mardanyan among the few Armenians at the school.
“But that’s slowly changing, and I’m all the more happy for it. We have lots of Armenians from the U.S., and more students from Armenia are becoming interested in attending,” Tigran noted.
In his first years at university, Mardanyan has already managed to stand out among the crowd. He was the winner of the Boston Conservatory at Berklee 2021-22 Churchill Piano Competition as well as the Boston Conservatory at Berklee 2021-22 Concerto Competition. His victory in the latter gave him the opportunity to perform Rachmaninoff’s 1st Piano Concerto at Worcester’s Mechanics Hall with the Boston Conservatory Orchestra. His performance was under the baton of conductor Bruce Hangen, artistic director and conductor of the Vista Philharmonic Orchestra, director of orchestral activities, and professor of conducting at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee. Mardanyan’s chance to perform with the Boston Conservatory is an honor that is only bestowed upon the sole student who wins the concerto competition that year, which he won in 2021–2022.
“Being able to perform at Worcester’s Mechanics Hall with the entire conservatory’s orchestra is not something that you can do easily…you have to work really hard and earn your spot,” Mardanyan reflected.
And he has continued to work hard, gathering the attention of both faculty and his peers, which is what led to his invitation to join Balasanyan at Carnegie Hall for their upcoming concert. The two of them are both enrolled at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee, and had been in touch through their Armenian connection and the music world even prior to their studies in the United States.
