Чобанян Лорис Оганнес
| Чобанян Лорис Оганнес | |
| Loris Ohannes Chobanian | |
| |
| На английском: | Loris Ohannes Chobanian |
Биография
Professor of Composition and Guitar as well as Composer-in-Residence at Baldwin-Wallace College Conservatory, Loris Ohannes Chobanian was born to Armenian parents in the Middle East. He was introduced to serious music at an early age. His father Ohannes Chobanian, an oil engineer and an amateur musician, was a versatile performer on the piano, the flute and the violin and often performed in quartets of Haydn, Mozart and Schubert. When Chobanian was only five years old, his father wrote for him an operetta entitled “O Loris!” which he sang in the city of Kirkuk. The senior Chobanian conducted the orchestra.
He attended Baghdad College, an Irish American Jesuit high school and in 1955, he began to perform the classical guitar regularly on Baghdad TV. He came to the United States in 1960 and performed on TV in Baton Rouge, LA, and in East Lansing, MI. In 1975 as the first Chairman of the ASTA Guitar Division he was instrumental in organizing the first Guitar Convention in the United States, which served as a model for other guitar conventions that have followed. For the first time University and college guitar teachers from all over the Unites States and Canada were invited to participate in the ASTA Guitar Convention in Cleveland, OH. Guitar Foundation of America was formed soon after.
Highly successful and versatile as a composer, Dr. Chobanian is equally at home with complex contemporary textures and colorful orchestration. He was instrumental in establishing the BW Conservatory Guitar and Composition programs as well as the Focus Contemporary Music Festival. Winner of many ASCAP awards and grants from the Ohio Arts Council and the Cleveland Arts Council, an award for excellence from the University of Loyola, New Orleans, LA, he was the recipient of the 1981 Cleveland Arts Prize. Among his many commissions include those from the Cleveland Ballet, the Ohio Chamber Orchestra, the American Wind Symphony, the Toronto International Guitar Festival, the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra, the Groton Central School in New York, the Nebraska Wesleyan University, the Cleveland Chamber Symphony, the Skidmore College Orchestra, Saratoga Springs, NY and the Ohio Private College Instrumental Conductor’s Association.
An expert conductor, he often conducts his own compositions as guest composer with university, high school and professional orchestras. His most recent appearance as guest composer was in March of 2002 in Chicago, IL. On February 9, 2002 the Florida Orchestra performed CONCIERTO DEL FUEGO for Guitar and Orchestra in Tampa, Florida. His song cycle FOUR CHRONICLES was premiered on February 17, 2002. He performed the classical guitar on WVIZ TV, March 20, 2002. Chobanian’s compositions written for orchestra, symphonic wind ensemble, ballet, chamber music, choral and solo works are published by more than twelve publishers and many of his compositions are recorded on the following labels: New World, Dorian, Albany, GSP, LOC, Musicaphon, Blaze of Glory, and BIS.
To write or order Loris Chobanian's music please e-mail him at: Lchobani@bw.edu
