Born: May 24, 1975 Primary Instrument: Piano
Vardan Ovsepian is an Armenia-born pianist/composer and a Fresh Sound New Talent recording artist. Born in 1975, Vardan started playing piano at the age of five. After completing his basic piano training, he went on to study at the Melikyan Music College, majoring in Music Theory, and in 1992, entered the Yerevan State Conservatory majoring in Classical Composition. Inspired by the music of Chopin, Liszt, Bach and solo piano works of Keith Jarrett, Vardan strived to compose and perform solo piano music. In 1994, he was presented an opportunity to focus on his piano work when he was accepted to the Estonian Music Academy to study Contemporary Composition.
In 1995, following his strong interest and passion for jazz and improvised music Vardan moved to Finland, to attend the Helsinki Jazz Conservatory. There, he met and studied with Frank Carlberg, the First Prize winner of the Hennessey Jazz Search, who opened a new world of jazz for him and brought him one step closer to achieving his dream of coming to the United States. A couple of years later, this dream was fulfilled - Vardan was awarded a scholarship to study piano performance at the Berklee College of Music in Boston.
Since graduating from Berklee in May 2000, Vardan has been teaching at The Musical Suite in Newburyport, MA, and performing solo as well as in groups with artist like Frank Carlberg, Hal Crook, George Garzone, Mick Goodrick, Tony Malaby, Tim Miller, Bob Weiner, and others. Over the last few years, Vardan has won great popularity in Maine where he has taught master classes at the Maine Jazz Camp.
Vardan has released three CDs with a Barcelona-based label Fresh Sound New Talent. In September 2001, the label launched the artist with a solo piano CD Abandoned Wheel, which included all original compositions inspired by music of Philip Glass and Brad Mehldau (especially 'Elegiac Cycle'). A year later, Vardan was invited to bring his quartet for a recording of his second CD, Sketch Book, with a special guest Mick Goodrick. Artists featured on the second CD included Monica Yngvesson (voice), Joshua Davis (bass) and Take Toriyama (drums). And in Septmeber 2004, Fresh Sound is going to release Vardan's third CD “Akunc” (”Source”) with his quartet and a cellist Agnieszka Dziubak.
