YEREVAN—Funeral services and burial of Maestro Aram Gharabekian, who passed away on January 10 in Los Angeles, will be held on Wednesday January 29 in Yerevan. The announcement was made following a meeting of a government-appointed state funeral committee headed by Armenia’s Minister of Culture, Hasmik Poghosyan.
Funeral services will be held from noon to 2 p.m. local time at the Aram Khachatourian Concert Hall. Burial will take place at the Yerevan Municipal Cemetery.
A memorial service was held last Saturday at Glendale’s St. Mary’s Church, where a capacity crowd comprised of Gharabekian’s relatives, friends and colleagues gathered to pay their last respects to the late Maestro.
The Mass, officiated by Western Prelate Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian featured several eulogies, among them Gharabekian’s colleague Maestro Tigran Mansourian and his nephew Armen Avak Avakian.
Born in 1955 in Tehran, Gharabekian graduated from the New England Conservatory in Boston with a Master’s degree in Composition, and continued his postgraduate studies in Musical Phenomenology at Mainz University, Germany. He studied conducting with Franco Ferrara in Italy, and in 1979 became one of the few conducting pupils of the legendary Sergiu Celibidache in Germany. He was also granted a fellowship to study composition and conducting under Jacob Druckman and Leonard Bernstein at Tanglewood Music Center in Massachusetts.
From 1997 until 2010 Gharabekian served as Music Director of the National Chamber Orchestra of Armenia, leading this critically acclaimed ensemble on tours to Greece, the United Arab Emirates, Cyprus, Switzerland, England, Russia, Lebanon, Georgia, Germany, France, Canada and the U.S., where in 2001 they made their Lincoln Center debut as part of their second North American tour.
In 1983 Gharabekian founded the Sinfonova Chamber Orchestra in Boston and served as its principal conductor until 1991.
More recently, Gharabekian was the conductor and artistic director of the Open Music Society Foundation, a multifaceted arts organization dedicated to fostering musical excellence, established in Los Angeles.
In 2012, Gharabekian and his Open Music Orchestra received enthusiastic praise for their performance at the Space Shuttle Endeavor’s arrival ceremony at Los Angeles International Airport.
Read more about Gharabekian’s myriad accomplishments in the In Memoriam section of Asbarez.com.
