Vartan Vahramian

Vartan Vahramian
Born	Vartan Vahramian 1955 Tabriz, Iran
Known for	Music, painting, composer, conducting, film
Movement	Surrealism

Vartan Vahramian (Armenian: Վարդան Վահրամեան) is an Iranian-Armenian composer, artist and painter. He has made musical creations, solo performances as a baritone, and conducted choirs.

Early life

Vartan Vahramian was born in Tabriz, in 1955.^[1] He is the son of painter Grigor Vahramian Gasparbeg, who graduated from the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture and who was also a skilled sculptor, silversmith and engraver. Gasparbeg was trained under Dmitry Kardovsky (1866-1943) the famous painter and pedagogue. His mother, Marousia Vahramian, was also an artist who, from an early age, was trained in music, and later in painting. It is therefore not surprising that these two arts manifest themselves equally in his work.^[2]

Career

Music

Vartan Vahramian has studied harmony under both Iran's and Armenia's maestros. He has 75 musical compositions. Vartan Vahramian has also been the founder and conductor of "Komitas" church choir since 1980.

In 2000-2001, his Requiem, Oratorio, and Mass, to mark the 1700th anniversary of Christianity as the state religion in Armenia, was performed by Yerevan's "Komitas" conservatory choir. In 2006, he was invited to Armenia, where his "Looys Aravoti" was performed at the "One Nation, One Culture"^[3] festival to great acclaim. "Looys Aravoti", with words by Vahagn Davtyan and "Jah Haverjakan", with words by Varand, have been composed with great inspiration, emotion and devotion. His Mass in contemporary musical style was performed at the " One Nation, One Culture" in Yerevan in 2010. His creations are gentle and clean just like the morning light.

In 2011 a short animated film of St. Stepanos Monastery was made, directed by Reza Shams, for cultural use. The music for this film was composed by Vartan Vahramian. The actual video is on YouTube.^[4]

On 13 July 2013, the documentary film "Maroosya" was premiered in Yerevan, Armenia.It was selected as one of the non-competitive documentary films to be shown at The Golden Apricot Armenian Film Festival 2013. The accompanying music for this film is composed by Vartan Vahramian. The film was directed by Navid Mikhak.^[5] "Maroosya" was screened in Kazan International Film Festival in September 2014 and at Arpa International Film Festival on November 2014.^[6]

Vartan Vahramian is an Associate Member of the Guild of International Songwriters and Composers, U.K. He has received an award from Catholicos Garegin I for his cultural work. He lives in Tabriz, where he teaches music and painting and continues to work on both his music and painting.^[7]

Painting

Vartan Vahramian is also a talented painter known for his Surrealistic style. His oil paintings have been exhibited extensively in various galleries in Iran and have received coverage both in Iranian and foreign newspapers and media.^[8]

His well known works include "Miracle", "Check Mate", "Eve Facing the Serpent", "Profound Devotion", "Belated Love", "Identity Crisis", "Betrayal" and "Longing".

A novel titled "Speaking Cat" by Beverley Coghlan, was published in February 2015. All the sketches in this book are entirely Vartan Vahramian's creations.^[9]

Film

In 2006, Vartan Vahramian starred in the award winning film Tabriz: Images from the Forgotten World. The film also featured a soundtrack composed by Vahramian and was the winner of the Best Foreign Short Screenplay from Moondance International Film Festival, July, 2006.^[10]

See also

• List of Armenian artists
• List of Armenians
• List of Iranian Armenians

References