Tigran Maytesian

Life and music studies

Tigran Maytesian was born in Sevan, Armenia. He commenced his violin studies at the age of five and pursued an elaborate classic music education from music school up to conservatory and postgraduate violin.

His début was at the age of nine with the chamber orchestra of music school No. 19 in Yerevan, Armenia, (directed by Gohar Mouradian). In 1990, he became a student of C. Hakhnazaryan at the Yerevan Komitas State Conservatory. Later, from 1992 to 1995, within an international exchange program, Tigran continued his violin studies with Yuri Gerets at the Estonian Academy of Music in Tallinn, Estonia and from 1995 till 1997 he was assistant internship supervisor, post-graduate student at the Moscow Conservatory named after P. I. Tchaikovsky.

During his studies in Tallinn, Tigran Maytesian met Igor Bezrodny, a distinguished violinist and pedagogue of the 20th century, who initiated him into the traditions of the Russian violin school of Abram Yampolsky (Bezrodny was a student of the latter). Since then Tigran has followed the best practices of the Russian violin school with its focus on technical skills, relaxed handplay, peculiar sense for the acoustic characteristics of the violin, the capabilities for creating sound, the richness and color of the created sound, and the artistic freedom and self-development of the violinist.

Career and concerts

His performance career started during his studies, when from 1987 till 1998 he was a concertmaster (first violin) in the orchestra of the State Radio and Television of Armenia conducted by Gevorg Adzhemian. On invitation by the Estonian Radio ″Fourth Station″ and the Conservatory of Estonia, from 1993 onwards, he has regularly performed in Scandinavia. Since 2000, he lives in Belgium and over 3 years, from 2002 till 2005, he served as the first violin at the National Chamber Orchestra of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. He has performed in many recitals and concert series with different pianists and renowned orchestras in Russia, Armenia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Israel as well as throughout West-European countries (Finland, Estonia, Luxemburg, Belgium, Poland, Slovakia, the Netherlands, and France). Throughout his career, Tigran Maytesian collaborated with a lot of prominent conductors such as Gevorg Adzhemian (Armenia), Yuri Alperten (Estonia), Alexander Yakupov, Andrey Krouzhkov, Igor Lerman, Andrey Karapishchenko (Russia), Vyacheslav Prilepin, Alexander Sosnovsky (Belarus), Jeannot Vaymerskirch (Luxemburg). Daniel Blumenthal (Belgium) is one of the pianists accompanying him on a regular basis. Among other pianists with whom he gave concerts in different countries are Elisabeth Ginsburg (Moscow, Russia), Irina Tsys, Konstantin Zenkin, Andrey Krouzhkov (Moscow, Russia), Marrit Gerets (Estonia), Luba Harutyunyan (Belgium), Luc De Vos (Belgium), Ruben Chakhmakhchyan (Armenia), and Joseph Ermin (Ukraine).

He has founded the ″Mind Speller″ Chamber orchestra transformed from a String quartet, where, since its establishment in 2011, he has been acting as its conductor, soloist or the first violin at different concerts.

In 2012 he became artistic director of the International Festival des Minimes in Brussels (Belgium) upon invitation by Abbé Jacques Van der Biest, honorary citizen of the city of Brussels, and by Prince Amaury de Merode, President of the ″Centre d'Oeuvres de Merode″ (Brussels, Belgium). He continued and expanded this initiative in 2013, to include also the International Festival Sint Carolus Borromeuskerk in Antwerp (Belgium) and the International Festival at the Cathédrale Notre-Dame-de-la-Treille de Lille, France. Starting from 2016 Tigran Maytesian has been acting as Artistic director of the non-profitable musical association Pro Musica Pulchra guiding a series of music festivals: Festival Catharina in Brussels, Festival St.Andrieskerk in Antwerp and Festival Chapel for Europe in Brussels with participation of young talented musicians from different countries.

Tigran Maytesian has participated in various music festivals, including International Classical Music Festival "January Music Nights" in Brest, Belarus in 2013.

He performs with a violin from the 17th century Italian master Nicola Amati and a violin from the 18th century Italian master Giuseppe Guarneri

Music composition

Tigran's creative talent has revealed in his music composing activity. The Caprices written and performed by the composer himself (Caprice #1 inspired by the composition "Krunk" of the Armenian composer Komitas, Caprice #2 ("Astana"), Caprice #3 dedicated to A.Schnittke and Caprice #4) have been highly esteemed and universally acclaimed by the musical critics and composers. These compositions enjoyed great popularity and success with the audience at his performances in Belgium and concert tours worldwide.

Pedagogue

Since 2008 Tigran Maytesian has been appointed a Professor at the Lemmens Institute (Lemmensinstituut - Conservatory of the Catholic University Leuven, Belgium) to conduct two classes: solo violin and chamber music. Alongside his performance career he has concentrated on the pedagogical activities and successfully prepared several students for international solo violin and chamber music competitions. Besides teaching at the Lemmens Institute in Leuven, Belgium he regularly conducts master classes in conservatoires and music schools in Belgium, Russia, Armenia, Kazakhstan, for both solo violinists and chamber musicians.

Scientific research

Tigran Maytesian showed great interest in exploring different aspects of classical music and its influence on human brain perception and functioning. In 2011 he became Professor at the Medical School (Laboratory for Neuro- and Psychophysiology) at the Catholic University Leuven (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven), Belgium. Since then he has been actively involved in the ″Mind Speller″ project (http://simone.neuro.kuleuven.be), participating in this scientific research together with his colleague Professor Marc Van Hulle. Among other major aspects within the ″Mind Speller″ project is a study of the connection between music and emotions by means of electro-encephalography (EEG). The ultimate aim is to develop an ″affective brain computer interface″ with which patients suffering from language disorders, due to neurological diseases such aphasia, autism, and dementia, can express their emotions via EEG without using facial expressions, gestures or other forms of muscular activity. Professor Maytesian has successfully promoted this project at universities in Belarus, Armenia and Russia (Moscow).

Tigran Maytesian is a Doctor of Arts (Russia) and, since 2013, a scientific advisor for Scientific Center of Interdisciplinary research of Musical creativity of the Moscow Conservatory named after P. I. Tchaikovsky.

Honours and awards

Tigran Maytesian is an honorary doctor and a member of Arts department at the International Academy for Natural and Social Sciences, an honorary member of the Ararat International Academy of Sciences (Paris, France) and a regular member of the Europäische Akademie der Naturwissenschaften(Hannover, Germany).

Klassiek Centraal nominated the performance of Tigran Maytesian with ″Russian Camerata″, the Chamber Orchestra of Tver Philharmonics, under the direction of Andrey Krouzhkov, on February 2014 as the Best Concert of the year and awarded them the Goulden Label prize.