”The playing of his students is marked by the highest professional standards and deep knowledge. He is constantly perfecting himself, frequently appearing with interpretations of works by contemporary Armenian composers. Gurgenov is kind and sympathetic, yet demanding—a specialist faithful to his noble vocation. In musical matters, he is uncompromising, revealing each student’s individuality and preferences through a personalised approach.”
Edgar Hovhannisyan, composer
Alexander Gurgenov was born on 18 February 1951 in Lviv, Ukraine.
From 1958 to 1969, he studied at Lviv’s Specialised Ten-Year Music School in the class of Professor Alexander Edelmann, who had already appeared both in recitals and with orchestra during his youth. He continued his education in 1969-71 at the Lviv State Conservatory named after Mykola Lysenko, majoring in concert performance and pedagogy. In 1971, he transferred to the Komitas Yerevan State Conservatory, graduating with highest honours in 1974 and completing his postgraduate studies in 1977 under Honoured Artist Anna Ambakumyan, again specialising in concert performance and teaching.
Gurgenov’s repertoire centred on the Classical and Romantic masters—Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin and Schumann—while also embracing key 20th-century composers such as Prokofiev, Scriabin and Shostakovich.
Still a student, he won Second Prize and the Laureate title at the 1972 Young Performers Competition of the Caucasian Republics. Until 1976, he simultaneously taught the professional piano curriculum at the Yerevan Music-Pedagogical College. Beginning in 1974, he served as accompanist, in 1976 became assistant for the professional piano course in Ambakumyan’s studio, was appointed lecturer in accompaniment studies in 1978, and from 1980 led his professional class.
Alongside his teaching, Gurgenov was an active performer, touring in Germany, Poland, Georgia, Russia, and beyond. Fascinated by the exact sciences, he also completed a two-year theoretical and practical course in computer technology at the Polytechnic Institute in 1986.
From 1994, he served as Vice-Dean of the Piano Faculty, and from 2002, headed the Conservatory’s Second Department of Professional Piano. He sat on the juries of numerous competitions and produced significant scholarly, editorial, and publishing work.
A distinguished pedagogue, Gurgenov carried forward the performance traditions of two great Russian piano schools—Felix Blumenfeld’s and Konstantin Igumnov’s. Many of his students continue to teach at the Yerevan State Conservatory, while performers such as Hayk Melikyan and Nareh Arghamanyan have earned international acclaim.
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