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Arshak Sirunyan

Born and raised in the city of Yerevan, Armenia, by the age of seven, Arshak Sirunyan’s 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 Mikaelian 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] with Dennis Chambers on drums. In May 2010, “Twitching Eye“ from the album “Journal“ receives ”Honorable Mention” from the 2010 International Songwriting Competition.

In late 2012 Arshak began working on his “Hoodman’s Blind” project collaborating with multi Grammy Award winning & nominated musicians from all over the world. Featuring Mike Stern, Omar Hakim, Eric Marienthal, Chieli Minucci, Bob Franceschini, Raul Pineda, Cheikh NDoye, John Lamkin III, Arto Tuncboyaciyan, Artyom Manukyan, Artur Yeghiazaryan, Vardanyan String Quartet & more.., the new album is due to be released on March 2nd, 2014.

Awards

1994 Armenian National J. S. Bach Concerto Competition - 3rd Place 2010 International Songwriting Competition - "Honorable Mention" 2014 1st place in Jazz Category of 2014 International Songwriting Competition 2014 1st place in Instrumental Category of 2014 International Songwriting Competition 2014 - "Honorable Mention" at 2014 International Songwriting Competition


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43
Album Review

Arshak Sirunyan: Serendipity

Read "Serendipity" reviewed by Karl Ackermann


Pianist/composer Arshak Sirunyan last offered up a startlingly good multi-media, cross-genre collection with Hoodman's Blind (Self-produced, 2014). That recording found the Armenian born musician tackling the complexities of translating a medieval contest of strategy to an engaging musical concept. The success of that album hinged--in no small part--on Sirunyan's ability to blend disparate elements of chamber, folk, rock and jazz into a consistent hybrid style of his own. More aspiring, and completely different, is Serendipity, a stunning work of modern ...

84
Album Review

Arshak Sirunyan: Hoodman's Blind

Read "Hoodman's Blind" reviewed by Karl Ackermann


Pianist/composer Arshak Sirunyan's Hoodman's Blind is likely to be one of the most unique and compelling releases of the year. The Armenian born musician was a finalist in that country's prestigious National J. S. Bach Concerto Competition in 1994. Now a Washington DC resident, he has assembled a top-tier ensemble of award-winning artists from around the globe in creating this collection of genre-defying compositions. Inspired by the medieval predecessor of the game “Blindman's Bluff," Sirunyan has woven a tale that ...

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Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Serendipity

Self Produced
2015

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Hoodman's Blind

Self Produced
2014

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