Hayk Melikyan

Hayk Melikyan is recognized internationally as one of the most versatile and imaginative performers of the 20th Century and Contemporary Music, and among today’s most engaging virtuoso pianists by classical music audiences and critics. He started playing piano with Irina Grishinskaya when he was six. Later, he continued his professional studies with Professor Alexander Gurgenov at the Yerevan Komitas Conservatory. Hayk Melikyan’s international concert début took place at the Concerto di Concerti International Festival of the 20th Century Music in Rome in 2000. He leads an active concert life, playing throughout Europe, Asia, and the Americas on prestigious stages such as Geneva’s Victoria Hall, Lisbon Gulbenkian Grand Auditorium, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Athens’ Megaron, etc.

Hayk Melikyan is a laureate of International Piano Competitions, such as Concours d’Orléans (France), Ibla Grand Prize (Italy), Yvar Mikhashoff Trust for New Music (USA), Premio Valentino Bucchi (Italy), etc. The Armenian Musical Assembly awarded Hayk Melikyan the esteemed Komitas Medal in 2008, and the Moscow Composers Union awarded the Pianist a Golden Medal for his contribution and promotion of World Contemporary Music in 2012. In 2013, Hayk Melikyan received the Title of Honorary Artist of Armenia. His solo albums are released under renowned labels such as Naxos Grand Piano, Azure Sky, Donemus, ANM, and others. His solo album «Arutiuanian: Complete Piano Works» by Naxos Grand Piano was selected as the Best Classical Music Album of the Year at the National Music Award 2018.

He is the first performer of numerous works by many composers of our time, and dozens of pieces have been specially written for Hayk Melikyan. In 2009, this activity led the Pianist to create a series of concerts called 1900+, dedicated to 20th-century and contemporary world piano music. In July 2020, Hayk Melikyan launched a new initiative named 2000+, which aims to propagate the music of our time. In 2024, Hayk Melikyan was honored with the Golden Medal of the Armenian Ministry of Science, Education, Culture, and Sports on the 15th anniversary of 1900+.

Hayk Melikyan regularly holds piano master classes around the world and performs at the Festival de Valmagne (France), Festival de Musique en Côte de Nacre (France), Festival O/MODƏRNT (Sweden), Warsaw Royal Arcades of Art Festival (Poland), San Leo Music Festival (Italy), Les Musicales de Baabdath International Music Festival (Lebanon), Penderecki Contemporary Classics’ Festival, Yerevan International Music Festival and Aram Khachaturian International Music Festival (Armenia), etc. Many of them target contemporary music: Pharos Contemporary Music Festival (Cyprus), Lviv Contrasts Contemporary Music Festival (Ukraine), Kyiv GogolFest International Festival of Contemporary Art (Ukraine), Sofia ppIANISSIMO Contemporary Piano Music Festival (Bulgaria), Nuovi Spazi Musicali Festival (Italy), etc.

Hayk Melikyan has worked with distinguished musicians, including cellists Edgar Moreau and Francesco Dillon, and violinists Kristóf Baráti, Carolin Widmann, and Hugo Ticciati, as well as prominent composers like György Kurtág, Pēteris Vasks, Tigran Mansurian, and Krzysztof Penderecki. As a soloist, he regularly performs with orchestras such as the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, Armenian State Symphony Orchestra, Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra, Lebanese Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Montevideo Philharmonic, under the baton of renowned conductors including Valery Gergiev, Gianluca Marcianò, Diego Martin-Etxebarria, Hovhannes Tchekidjian, Eduard Topchjan, Sergey Smbatyan, and many others.

As a composer, Melikyan studied with Vardan Ajemian at the Yerevan Komitas State Conservatory. In 2008, he won the First Prize at the Lazar Saryan Composition Competition, where the Armenian Musical Assembly also awarded him the Komitas Medal for his contributions to Armenian music. His composition repertoire spans solo piano, chamber, and symphonic works, as well as vocal works. His piano transcriptions, concert paraphrases, and arrangements are particularly popular among pianists.