Armenian cellist Narek Hakhnazaryan’s powerful and poetic playing has propelled him to the First Prize and Gold Medal at the 2011 International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow.  Already hailed as a  “seasoned phenom” in the Washington Post review of  his Kennedy Center debut, Mr. Hakhnazaryan’s 2011-2012 season brings his first concerto appearance at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s under Ryan McAdams on the Young Concert Artists Gala, as well as performances with the London Symphony and the Mariinsky Orchestra under Valery Gergiev, a 5-concert tour across Europe with the Moscow Philharmonic; and with other international orchestras including the Verdi Orchestra in Milan, the Jerusalem Symphony, and the Tokyo Symphony at Suntory Hall.

Mr. Hakhnazaryan also appears in recitals throughout the States and with US orchestras including the Boston “Pops,” the Pasadena Symphony and the Naples Philharmonic under Jorge Mester.  He is invited to perform in Europe at the Verbier Festival in Switzerland, the Beethoven Festival in Poland and the Tivoli Festival in Denmark.

As a chamber musician, Mr. Hakhnazaryan will be performing with the Boston Chamber Music Society and has performed at Ravinia’s Steans Institute; in the Caramoor Festival’s “Rising Stars” series; and at the Young Concert Artists Festival at Chanel’s Nexus Hall in Tokyo.

As First Prize winner in the 2008 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, Mr. Hakahnazaryan made his New York debut in the Young Concert Artists Series at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall sponsored by the Jerome L. Greene Foundation, and in Washington, DC at the Kennedy Center, both to critical acclaim.

Scholarships from the Rostropovich Russian Performing Arts Fund brought him concerts in Russia, Europe, Great Britain, Greece, Turkey and Canada.   His prizes include First Prize in the 2006 Aram Khachaturian International Competition in Armenia and First Place in the 2006 Johansen International Competition for Young String Players.

Mr. Hakhnazaryan was born in 1988 in Yerevan, Armenia, into a family of musicians: his father is a violinist and his mother is a pianist.  His early studies were at the Sayat-Nova School of Music in Yerevan with Zareh Sarkisyan.  At the age of 12, Mr. Hakhnazaryan began studies at the Moscow Conservatory with Alexey Seleznyov.  Working with Laurence Lesser, he received an Artist Diploma from the New England Conservatory of Music in 2011.  Mr. Hakhnazaryan plays a 1698 Tecchler cello, on loan from Valentine Saarmaa, granddaughter of the renowned luthier Jacques Francais.