Komitas Quartet

Komitas Quartet (Квартет имени Комитаса) is an Armenian-Russian classical ensemble, founded in 1924 by four Armenian students at the Moscow Conservatory. The group is named after the legendary Armenian composer Komitas and is one of the oldest string quartets in the world performing today. Since 1976, the quartet is based in Yerevan. Three members play Andrea Guarneri instruments, and Eduard Tadevossyan (1st violin since 1976) plays Pietro Guarneri violin passed to him by Avet Ter-Gabrielyan (one of the founding members and 1st violin from 1924 to 1976). The group debuted on stage in 1925 and had been performing wide classical repertoire, including Georg Friedrich Händel, Niccolò Paganini, and Edvard Grieg arranged by cellist Sergey Aslamazian (one of the founding members of the Komitas Quartet). A few Soviet composers wrote music for the group, such as Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov. By the middle of the 1930s, Komitas Quartet gained wide popularity around the USSR. The group won the Union of Soviet Composers competition in 1936 and shared first prize at the All-Union String Quartet Competition in 1938. They started touring abroad in 1953 and visited over 80 countries. Komitas Quartet received several high-profile awards, including Stalin Prize (1946) and Armenian SSR State Prize (1985). The quartet has performed with Sviatoslav Richter, Nina Dorliak, Emil Gilels, Dmitri Shostakovich, Mstislav Rostropovich, Victor Merzhanov, Konstantin Igumnov, Mario Brunello, Anahit Nersesyan, Alexander Goldenweiser, Heinrich Neuhaus and other prominent musicians. Original line-up (1925–1933) 1st violin: Avet Gabrielyan 2nd violin: Levon Ogandjanyan Viola: Mikael Terian Cello: Sergey Aslamazian Current line-up (since 2010) 1st violin: Eduard Tadevosyan (Эдуард Тадевосян) 2nd violin: Syuzi Yeritsyan (Сюзи Ерицян) Viola: Aleksandr Kosemyan (Александр Косемян) Cello: Hasmik Vardanyan (Асмик Варданян)