Born: September 20, 1981 Primary Instrument: Piano
When asked about Arshak Sirunyan, Gabrielle Goodman (award winning songwriter, vocalist and Berklee College of Music educator) remarked without hesitation, “There are piano players and then there’s Arshak; he’s on a whole `nother level”.
Arshak Sirunyan was born on September 20, 1981, in the city of Yerevan, Armenia. By the age of seven, his natural musical talent had already come to the attention of Sergey Kechek, Director of the A. Spendiarov School of Music; one of the leading musical academies in Armenia. Studying under unparalleled teacher and a music mentor Arkuhi Harutyunyan, Arshak continued his study of classical piano styles for the next 10 years, performing solo concerts and going so far as to receive the third place award at the 1994 Armenian National J. S. Bach Concerto Competition. Later, he attended and graduated from Komitas State Conservatory, where he concentrated on Composition and Piano Performance under the tutelage of Stephan Rostomyan and Georgy Kasabyan. In the fallowing years Arshak has composed classical and contemporary compositions for vocal, piano, clarinet, string quartet and symphonic orchestra. In 2002, the Armenian Komitas String Quartet performed a work composed by Arshak Sirunyan that was dedicated to the victims of the earthquake that struck Armenia fourteen years earlier.
In the year of 2002, after releasing his first album “Armenian Folk Melodies” with his friend Artur Yeghiazaryan Arshak was granted the great opportunity to come to the United States of America. In 2008 Arshak found and produced a band by name “Double Sharp” with his two childhood friends Levon Mikayelyan and Nune Vartanyan. Which also includes two veterans of american jazz scene Tony Bunn and Wes Crawford. This gave a birth to the album “With a Song in My Heart”. The same year he began working on his trio album “Journal” [Released in 2010] and Tony's project “Small World” [Released in 2009]which also involves extraordinary drummer Dennis Chambers. In May 2010, “Twitching Eye” from the album “Journal” receives “Honorable Mention” from the 2010 International Songwriting Competition.
Awards:
1994 Armenian National J. S. Bach Concerto Competition - 3rd Place 2010 International Songwriting Competition - "Honorable Mention"Small World - Tony Bunn & Friends (2009)
With A Song In My Heart - Double Sharp (2008)
Armenian Folk Melodies (2002)
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