Loris Tjeknavorian

Loris Haykasi Tjeknavorian (Armenian: Լորիս Ճգնավորյան; Persian: لوریس چکناواریان; born 13 October 1937) is an Iranian Armenian composer and conductor. He has appeared internationally as a conductor, serving as the principal conductor of the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra from 1989 to 1998 and later from 1999 to 2000. As a composer Tjeknavorian has written 6 operas, 5 symphonies, choral works, chamber music, ballet music, piano and vocal works, concerti for piano, violin, guitar, cello and pipa, as well as music for documentary and feature films. Among his best known works are the opera Rostam and Sohrab, based on the story of Rostam and Sohrab from Ferdowsi's Shahnameh, and the ballet Simorgh.

After study at the Vienna Music Academy, with Carl Orff at the Salzburg Mozarteum and the University of Michigan, he taught at the Tehran Conservatory. While based in the United Kingdom 1975 to 1985, he was a frequent conductor with various London orchestras and appeared internationally with orchestras in Iran, Israel, Japan, the Soviet Union and the United States. His early compositions evoke the work of Aram Khachaturian, while his oeuvre as a whole is heavily influenced by Armenian folk and sacred music.

He has made some 100 recordings with RCA, Philips, EMI, ASV, and others.

Read more about this composer on Wikipedia.