Orchestra conductor Loris Tjeknavorian will be conferred a commendation plaque in recognition of a lifetime of artistic activities.
At a ceremony to be held in Iranian Artists Forum, Tehran and jointly organized with the House of Music, a series of programs will be held to review the works of Tjeknavorian. Every month, one of his works will be displayed to the public, IRNA reported.
The ceremony will be marked by speeches from the forum director Majid Sarsangi, composer Hooshang Kamkar, and movie director Khosrow Sinai on Tjeknavorian and his works. The movie of his ‘Rostam and Sohrab’ opera will also be shown. It was the first puppet opera in Iran based on the heroes of Ferdowsi’s epic Shahnameh (Book of Kings). Directed by Behrouz Gharibpour, it was staged in 2004.
The movies ‘Carmina Burana’ by Carl Orff, the symphonic suite ‘Scheherazade’ and ‘Capriccio Espagno’l by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Symphony No. 1 by Mahler, piano concerto and Symphony No. 5 by Beethoven, Mozart’s Requiem, one of Dmitri Shostakovich’s works, and Tjeknavorian’s overtures will be screened.
The program will be inaugurated on October 9, at 6 pm in the forum premises at Honar garden, North Mousavi St., Taleghani St., Tehran.
Cultural Celebrity
Loris Tjeknavorian (born in Borujerd, Iran, October 13, 1937) is an Iranian Armenian composer and conductor. He is one of the most celebrated cultural figures in Armenia and Iran. As one of the leading conductors of his generation, he has led international orchestras throughout the world and been awarded numerous times in different music events.
As a composer Tjeknavorian has written 6 operas, 5 symphonies, choral works (among them God is love and a requiem), chamber music, ballet music, piano and vocal works, concerti for piano, violin, guitar, cello and pipa (Chinese lute), as well as music for documentary and feature films.
His compositions have been performed by major orchestras, including London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Halle Orchestra, Philharmonic Orchestra Helsinki, American Symphony Orchestra in New York, Tehran Symphony Orchestra, Johannesburg Symphony Orchestra, Haifa Symphony Orchestra, the Mexico Symphony Orchestra, London Percussion Virtuosi, Strasbourg Percussion Ensemble and English Chamber Orchestra.
Painter and Writer
From 2009 to the present, Tjeknavorian has continued to devote his time to composing, as well as painting and writing short stories. Among his most recent works are the operas Zahak (libretto based on Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh) and Mowlana and Shams-e Tabriz (libretto based on the poetry of Rumi), as well as the chamber opera ‘The Final Hour of Sadegh Hedayat’ (libretto based on ‘The Blind Owl’ and other works by the Iranian poet Sadegh Hedayat).
Other works include his second concerto for violin and chamber orchestra, a work for solo piano titled 1915, and two major symphonic suites: King Cyrus, about the ancient Persian king, and Takhti, dedicated to the celebrated Iranian wrestler. Tjeknavorian’s paintings were exhibited at the Gallery Shirin in Tehran, Gallery Maryam Seyhoun in Los Angeles, and twice at the artists’ forum. His series of short stories, written in English, will be published in the near future.
Tjeknavorian’s recent performances include benefit concerts in Tehran and Los Angeles for the organization MAHAK on behalf of children with cancer, a series of concerts with the Armenian Chamber Orchestra at the Vahdat Hall in Tehran, a performance of his Ararat Suite with the Sacramento Symphony, and the world premiere of his King Cyrus symphonic suite with the San Francisco Philharmonic Orchestra in August 2013.
