Marjan Mkhitaryan

(1918 - 1999)

From the book of the pianist, Professor of the Komitas State Conservatory of Yerevan — Shushanik Babayan «Marjan Mkhitaryan». Monograph. Yerevan, «Edith Print», 2002.

Marjan Mkhitaryan belongs to the generation of remarkable Armenian musicians — pianists, composers, theoreticians, and others — the peers of the Yerevan State Conservatory. Their musical formation and activities coincide in time with the formation and establishment of the conservatory.

In the formation of the Armenian piano school, we distinguish between Moscow and St. Petersburg (Leningrad) roots, and among the numerous representatives of the Moscow direction, the number of pupils of one school is especially significant — the outstanding musician, teacher Konstantin Igumnov, including both his direct students and musical grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

The identity of the Konstantin Igumnov school in Armenia can be traced over several generations of musicians, which is explained not only by the branching and numerous students of Konstantin Igumnov, but also by the fact that during the Great Patriotic War from August 1942 to October 1943 he taught at the Yerevan State Conservatory and, thus, it is possible to observe some genetic allegiance and continuity.

The musical activity of the Honored Art Worker of Armenia, professor of the Yerevan State Conservatory Marjan Mkhitaryan, performing, and pedagogical, is a worthy creative continuation of the traditions of the Moscow, Igumnov school.

Her formation as a musician is inextricably linked with the formation and history of the Yerevan State Conservatory. Marjan Mkhitaryan’s student years (since entering the children’s group at the conservatory in 1926), student years, and teaching activity — more than 50 years — are not only a particle of the creative life of the conservatory but, to a certain extent, this life itself, in which, like a drop, reflects all the features of the formation of professional musical art in Armenia.

The performance of Marjan Mkhitaryan, an integral part of the Armenian piano art, is in many respects a reflection of the creative musical life of Yerevan, creative communication, and commonwealth with Armenian composers. Marjan Mkhitaryan was the first performer of many works of her contemporaries. It is impossible to talk about Armenian chamber performance without mentioning the Marjan Mkhitaryan and violinist Karen Kostanyan.

The Marjan Mkhitaryan family is an intelligent Armenian family of teachers and doctors. Father — Mamikon Mkhitaryan was born in Nakhijevan (During this period was Armenian) in the family of a priest and was a teacher of the Armenian language and literature. He studied at the Gevorkian Theological Seminary located in the town of Vagharshapat (Etchmiadzin), having a good voice, he sang in the Komitas choir, during his years of study, together with the choir, he went to concerts in Tiflis (Tbilisi).

If Thomas Mann is right that in life, as well as in creativity, there are «leitmotifs», then in the life of Marjan Mkhitaryan Komitas’s personality and creativity can be considered as such. From her childhood, she heard songs of Komitas, her first musical impressions are connected with his name, and family stories about him make Komitas look close and dear.

After graduating from the Gevorkian Theological Seminary, Mkhitaryan returns to his native city of Nakhijevan and begins teaching. After graduating from the Yerevan gymnasium, Astghik Hovhannisyan, a teacher of the Russian language, and the future wife of Mamikon Mkhitaryan, also comes to Nakhijevan to work.

After the Turkish massacre, the Mkhitaryan family left Nakhichevan and moved to Yerevan, where on April 7, 1918, Marjan was born (her brother Mkrtich, was two years older).

For the first years, the family rented a room in the two-story mansion of the pharmacist I.M. Shakhnazarov. They lived very modestly. There was a piano on the second floor of the Shakhnazarovs’ house, which inexplicably attracted Marjan, she always dreamed of at least looking at it (playing was out of the question).

The Grand Piano appeared much later, thanks to his uncle, mother’s cousin, a well-known doctor, surgeon, and therapist Hovhannes Hovhannisyan, who bought it for Marjik Mkhitaryan. The building of the «Armenian Society For Cultural Cooperation With Foreign Countries» on Abovyan Street (Yerevan) is the former home of the doctor Hovhannes Hovhannisyan, his clinic was nearby. Only a few years later it became possible to purchase their own house on Raffi Street (now Koghbatsi).

The years of childhood and youth of Marjan Mkhitaryan were spent not in Yerevan, but in «Erivan». And this name no longer requires an explanation of «old Yerevan», but in itself contains it. After all, the name absorbs the atmosphere of the city, the way of life, various everyday trifles, and even colors …
One of the characteristic signs of that time was the construction of Erivan, when, with the arrival of the outstanding architect Alexander Tamanian in Armenia in 1923, an unprecedented transformation began, a complete reconstruction of the city — now it is difficult to imagine that the building of the Opera and Ballet House once did not exist. The construction of the Opera and Ballet House is one of the most remarkable and longest of that time. Then, among the adobe houses, one could distinguish several other, more noticeable buildings, and among them a beautiful two-story building made of the Armenian black tufa (stone), the central experimental-demonstrative comprehensive school named after Nadezhda Krupskaya, where Marjik Mkhitaryan studied from 1925-1932.

The school, one of the best in the city, was located in the very center, on Gnuni Street, and was in a special position. First of all, it was distinguished by a strong teaching staff. Former students of school A. Poghosyan, Marjan Mkhitaryan, and Jean Ter-Merguerian, after many years, remember the lessons of music and drawing, which were taught by the composer Mikael Hovhannes Mirzoyan and the wonderful artist Maria Tsurinyan.
Many future musicians studied at this school: Anna Ambakumyan, Margarita Harutyunyan, Mariya Gambaryan, Edvard Mirzoyan, Marta Navasardyan, Ophelia Petrosyan, and others.

Having entered a school, Marjik begins to study music in parallel. There was no question in the family whether it was necessary to teach her, since love and desire for music were early and obvious, from an early age Marjik showed excellent auditory abilities.
After short and unsystematic private lessons, Marjik Mkhitaryan entered the children’s group at the conservatory in the class of Olga Babasyan, who moved to Yerevan in 1927.

Marjik Mkhitaryan studied in the class of Honored Art Worker, Professor Olga Babasyan for 11 years (from the day she entered the children’s group until she graduated from the conservatory in 1938). Alexander Arutiunian, Margarita Harutyunyan, Arpine Azizyan, Olga Daniel-Beck, Edvard Mirzoyan, Ashkhen Samvelyan, Teresa Karamyan, Roza Tandilyan, Nina Stepanyan, and others studied in the class of Olga Babasyan at different times. In the Olga Babasyan class, Marjik Mkhitaryan studied a lot of works, and this is another feature of Olga Babasyan’s pedagogy, apparently inherited from her first teacher L. Truskovsky.

Suffice it to mention that before entering the Moscow State Conservatory, Marjik Mkhitaryan had a large number of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas in her repertoire, including such as Piano Sonata No. 3, Op.2 in C major, Piano Sonata No. 14, Op. 27 in C-sharp minor ‘Sonata quasi una fantasia’ («Moonlight»), Piano Sonata No. 21, Op. 53 in C major («Waldstein»), Piano Sonata No. 23, Op. 57 in F minor («Appassionata»).
Piano Sonata No. 31, Op. 110 in A-flat major she played at the end of the Yerevan State Conservatory (we recall that in 1938 there were no state exams yet, the graduates played the final diploma program at the end), with the same Piano Sonata Marjik Mkhitaryan entered the Moscow State Conservatory.

In May 1936, the ashes of Komitas were transported to Armenia and buried in the Pantheon of Artists (Now: «Komitas Park and Pantheon»), and two days after the ceremony, a concert dedicated to the work of Komitas was held in the hall of the Concert Hall of The State Philharmonia of Armenia (Now: Babajanyan Concert Hall of The State Philharmonia of Armenia). And here, next to the singers Shara Talyan, Haykanush Danielyan, Galina Shamshieva-Melkumyan, Satenik Gasparbek, and the choir, led by Tatul Altunyan, pianist Marjan Mkhitaryan performed. Then for the first time, she played three dances by Komitas.

In 1937, a concert was organized by Konstantin Saradzhev, as it was indicated in the program, in “commemoration of the fifteenth anniversary of the State Conservatory of Armenian SSR». She played the works of Ludwig van Beethoven, as the 110th anniversary of his death was celebrated at the same time. Among the speakers were pianists Anna Ambakumyan, Arno Babajanyan, Marjik Mkhitaryan, and Lia Shamhoryan. Marjik Mkhitaryan played Piano Sonata No. 23, Op. 57 in F minor («Appassionata») by Ludwig van Beethoven in this concert.

Around the same time (in 1938) Marjan Mkhitaryan participated as an accompanist in solo concerts by clarinetist Zaven Vardanyan and cellist Artemi Ayvazyan.

In 1937, on the initiative of Konstantin Saradzhev organized an intra-conservatory (and one of the first competitions in Yerevan) competition for the best performance of «Theme and Variations», Op. 72 by Alexander Glazunov. Marjik Mkhitaryan then took second place, the first — young Arno Babajanyan.

In 1933, when Marjik Mkhitaryan was 15 years old, the Yerevan State Conservatory sent to Moscow for the First All-Union Competition two pianists — Marjik Mkhitaryan and Galina Silchenko, a student of Yevgenia Khankalamyan, and two violinists — Mukuch Tadevosyan and Benyamin Chaldranyan.

And, of course, this competition is associated, first of all, with one name, although many famous musicians performed at it, the name of the winner — sixteen-year-old Emil Gilels. Among the participants — the winner was the first Moscow teacher of Marjik Mkhitaryan- Teodor Gutman (third prize), and she will go to study with him in six years.

Gevorg Budaghyan, having arrived in Yerevan after graduating from the Moscow State Conservatory (conducting class of Konstantin Saradzhev), in 1939 organized a circle for the study of symphonic music at the conservatory. Marjan Mkhitaryan recalled that, together with Evelina Stepanyan, in this circle, they played a lot of symphonic music in 4 hands, and, first of all, all of Ludwig van Beethoven’s symphonies. And in 1934 Marjik Mkhitaryan played her first concert with a symphony orchestra — Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Minor Op. 37, conducted by Gevorg Budaghyan.

Later, during the war years, Marjik Mkhitaryan worked as an accompanist in the conducting class of Konstantin Saradzhev and played a large amount of symphonic music, Konstantin Saradzhev’s humor, accuracy, imagery, and accuracy of remarks were remembered.

Graduating from the Yerevan Conservatory, like many of Marjan Mkhitaryan’s peers, did not mean the end of his musical education, but was only its first stage and, of course, assumed continuation and improvement in most cases in Moscow.

Evelina Stepanyan, Marjik Mkhitaryan’s friend, left for the Moscow State Conservatory, enrolling in the class Teodor Gutman. She persuaded Marjik to go to Moscow.

Speaking about the teachers of Marjik Mkhitaryan, we always (and rightly) mention, first of all, the name of Konstantin Igumnov, but Marjik Mkhitaryan’s years of study at the Moscow State Conservatory, due to known circumstances, turned out to be extended (1939 — 1947), incorporating many significant events, and the first, the pre-war Moscow years of Marjik Mkhitaryan are associated with another musician — Teodor Gutman, a pupil of Heinrich Neuhaus, who meant a lot in the musical formation of Marjik Mkhitaryan.

After studying privately with Teodor Gutman for about two months, in 1939 she entered the Moscow State Conservatory in his class. She ended up in Konstantin Igumnov’s class, as it were, by predestination — during the years of evacuation in Yerevan, Konstantin Igumnov took into his class primarily those who studied at the Moscow State Conservatory, including Marjik.

Talking about the lessons of Teodor Gutman, Marjik Mkhitaryan spoke about the very great independence and freedom that the student had; he never repeated the remarks twice, according to her, he trusted the student. It is interesting to note that when talking about the lessons of Konstantin Igumnov, Marjan Mkhitaryan mentioned the same freedom.

The conservatory adopted internal conservatory competitions for the best performance of any work. So, Marjan participated in the competition for the best performance of Alexander Scriabin’s Piano Sonata No. 2 in G-sharp minor, Op. 19, («Sonata-Fantasy»).

There was a student circle for listening to music, which was led by Sviatoslav Richter and Anatoly Vedernikov — both brilliantly read from a sheet. Marjik Mkhitaryan said that Sviatoslav Richter’s performance of any new work from sight was so complete and technically free that it was hard to believe that he was playing this work for the first time.

The war years in his native city, despite all the experiences and difficulties, turned out to be unexpectedly happy in the life and fate of Marjik Mkhitaryan. During these years, she began working at the conservatory as an accompanist in the conducting class of Konstantin Saradzhev and at the same time taught at a 10-class music school. Signs of wartime — cold in the classrooms, icy hands of «trout temperature» (as Konstantin Saradzhev joked) in gloves — well-known pictures of the Yerevan winters of the 90s.

With the light hand of Olga Babasyan — for some reason, Olga Babasyan asked Marjik Mkhitaryan to replace her and work with one of the students — there was a closer acquaintance with an Armenian musicologist and composer Robert Atayan since they knew each other before that. In 1942, Marjik Mkhitaryan got married. There was no wedding as such because of the wartime, everything went more than modestly, and the union with Robert Atayan turned out to be long and extremely happy.

The war divided Marjik’s years of study at the Moscow State Conservatory into two halves, and thus, the end of the conservatory fell in the post-war years (1945-47).

Marjik Mkhitaryan spoke of the stinginess of Konstantin Igumnov’s remarks. As a rule, he did not strive to achieve an immediate result in the lesson. Konstantin Igumnov defined everything clearly, concisely, and concretely. He was always interested in the question of form-design features, any deviations and details were always discussed. And above all, Konstantin Igumnov played beautifully in the class, less often as a whole, and more often in fragments, but everything immediately became clear. Of course, I remember his sound — especially melodious, long, and expressive.

Recording of Konstantin Igumnov’s performance of «The Seasons» Op. 37a by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky — one of the last, from the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, from 1947, despite the fact that Konstantin Igumnov did not like his recordings, nevertheless very good.

Remembering Konstantin Igumnov, one cannot help but recall his devoted student and assistant in those years — Yakov Milstein. Marjan Mkhitaryan played with him in 1947 at the state exam — Alexander Scriabin’s Piano Concerto in F sharp minor, Op. 20.

On March 31, 1949, an evening in memory of Konstantin Igumnov (on the first anniversary of his death). Konstantin Igumnov’s students played in the evening: Marjik Mkhitaryan, Arevik Avdalbekyan, Anna Ambakumyan, and Arno Babajanyan. Konstantin Saradzhev delivered a speech, and Karp Dombaev delivered a report on the life and work of Konstantin Igumnov. In the evening, Marjik Mkhitaryan played Frédéric Chopin — Three Mazurkas: Op. 41, No. 2 in E

minor, Op. 50, No. 1 in G major, Op.56, No. 3 in C minor, and the Ballade No. 4 in F minor, Op. 52.

At the Moscow State Conservatory of those years, Marjik Mkhitaryan had excellent teachers. Unforgettable, of course, were the lessons of the wonderful, profound musician, the kindest person Alexander Goedicke — classes in the organ class were mandatory at that time in the fourth year. In the last courses, he held a chamber ensemble.

In the first pre-war years, Marjik Mkhitaryan studied in the chamber ensemble class of Mark Milman, a student of Heinrich Neuhaus and Genrich Litinski (in composition).

On the history and theory of pianism, Grigory Kogan, and the subject «Musical Acoustics» were taught by the head and founder of the Scientific Research Institute, head of the department N. Garbuzov. She loved Marjik Mamikonovna and instrumentation classes with
N. Zryakovsky. There was also such a thing as the repair of keyboard instruments.

Before graduating from the conservatory in April 1947, Marjik Mkhitaryan participated in a concert of Armenian students in the Moscow House of Armenian Culture, which was demonstrative of Moscow life, performing Frédéric Chopin’s Ballade No. 4 in F minor, Op.
52. Such concerts were held quite often, uniting Armenian students of various Moscow universities.

In 1947, he graduated with honors from the Moscow State Conservatory. Marjik Mkhitaryan (Konstantin Igumnov’s graduation of 1947 turned out to be the last, on March 24, 1948, Konstantin Igumnov died), returns home. In Yerevan, she begins teaching, having received a special class at the conservatory. By this time, a new department was formed here under the leadership of Robert Andreasian. It united pianists who came to Yerevan after graduating from conservatories in Moscow and Leningrad (St. Petersburg): Anna Ambakumyan, Kathy Malkhasyan, Marjik Mkhitaryan, and Georgy Sarajev.

In parallel with teaching at the conservatory and in the 10-class music school, the performing activity of Marjik Mkhitaryan continues.

For almost forty years (up to her illness) Marjik Mkhitaryan constantly performed in a chamber ensemble, with a clear preference for the violin. She played in an ensemble with Avet Gabrielyan, Artemi Ayvazyan, Hrachya Bogdanyan, Zaven Vardanyan, and others. The ensemble with the scribbler, professor, and Honored Art Worker of Armenia Karen Kostanyan belongs to a special happy category of long-term (about 30 years) creative communities.

In the repertoire of Marjik Mkhitaryan, there is a noticeable commitment to large forms — a concerto, a sonata. Let’s pay attention to one detail — the desire for the exhaustion of the genre, and form. It is no coincidence that Marjan Mkhitaryan is a pianist who for the first time performed in Yerevan all the 24 Preludes of Haro Stepanian (Op. 47, Op. 48 & Op. 63), all the works of Komitas, and in ensemble performance all of Ludwig van Beethoven’s sonatas for violin and piano.

Her performances with the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra with Alexander Scriabin’s Piano Concerto in F sharp minor, Op. 20. and Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58 and Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 73, were wonderful and memorable. Marjan Mkhitaryan played all these piano concertos under the baton of conductor Michael Maluntsian.

Since 1954, a permanent ensemble of Marjan Mkhitaryan and violinist Karen Kostanyan. Karen Kostanyan, also a graduate of the Moscow State Conservatory, a student of Konstantin G. Mostras and Avet Gabrielyan, an excellent ensemble player, also performed as part of various trios, organizer and since 1961 head of the chamber ensemble department at the Yerevan State Conservatory, educated many prominent musicians of today’s Armenia, and the growth and flourishing of chamber performance in the republic over the years, of course, including, and his merit.

Regular sonata evenings by Marjan Mkhitaryan and Karen Kostanyan in the Small Hall of The State Philharmonia of Armenia were a bright phenomenon in the musical life of those years and were covered in sufficient detail in the press.

Sonatas for violin and piano by many contemporaries were performed by Marjan Mkhitaryan and Karen Kostanyan in Yerevan for the first time (the author of the book does not vouch for the completeness of the list, because many facts are lost without a trace over time): Francis Poulenc, Sergei Prokofiev (both sonatas), Lyubomir Pipkov, Claude Debussy, Béla Bartók, Paul Hindemith (both sonatas), Haro Stepanian (both sonatas), Ruben Altunyan, Tigran Mansurian, Karen Khachaturian, Karo Zakarian. In their concerts, they also performed all the sonatas by Ludwig van Beethoven, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, etc.

Of particular note is the performance of all of Ludwig van Beethoven’s sonatas for violin and piano (in those concerts). Perhaps also because such a performance of the cycle of Beethoven’s sonatas in Yerevan was the first.

Another diverse and broad area of solo concert activity of Marjan Mkhitaryan is the performance of Armenian music. The first performer of many works by Armenian composers of that time. For the first time in Yerevan, Marjik Mkhitaryan played piano pieces by Grigor Yeghiazaryan (“Three Dances”), Invention and Fugue by Adam Khudoyan, “Sketches on Armenia” by Tigran Ter-Martirosyan, “Songs of Armenia” by Sergey Balasanian, preludes and fugues by Edgar Hovhannisyan, «Polyphonic Notebook» by Alexander Pirumov. In various concerts, she often played works by Alexander Arutiunian, Arno Babajanyan, Sargis Barkhudaryan, Aram Khachaturian, and Gergy Sarajev.

But the name of Marjik Mkhitaryan is always associated with the name of two Armenian composers — Komitas and Haro Stepanian. It must be said that Marjik Mkhitaryan was more fortunate in this area of concert activity: we still have her stock recordings on the radio and the gramophone record of the Melodiya company, where she recorded all the Piano Dances by Komitas, his seven children’s plays on Armenian folk themes (from «Children Twelve Pieces» ) and two arrangements of Komitas songs — «Garun a» and «Kakavik» by Robert Andreasian.

Speaking about Marjik Mkhitaryan’s performance of Komitas’s Piano Dances, we invariably refer to the fundamental research work of a prominent musicologist, composer, and professor Robert Atayan. In the life of both musicians — Marjik Mkhitaryan and Robert Atayan
— it is impossible not to notice significant biographical coincidences, non-fictional intersections of destinies, and common life leitmotifs.

The life’s work of Robert Atayan — edition of the complete works of Komitas with a detailed commentary; labor extensive, multifaceted. In which it is possible to differentiate different layers of research — theoretical, historical — musicological, performing, instructive — and pedagogical. The sixth volume of the publication is the piano works by Komitas and, of course, Marjik Mkhitaryan’s participation in the work on this collection is quite natural.

The performance of the Piano Dances by Komitas (written in 1906) requires not only technical skills but above all performance fantasy, and imagination with a clear awareness of style features, the specifics of folk music, and folk performance. A characteristic feature, rhythmic complexity — asymmetrical, non-square structures, mixed rhythms (3/8; 5/8; 2 + 2 + 2 + 3/8; 2 + 3 + 2 + 3/8) of folk dances — turns us to rhythmic the discoveries of the composers of the early 20th century and, above all, Béla Bartók, especially in his six final pieces from the VI notebook of the «Mikrokosmos», written, we recall, much later than Komitas’s cycle — in 1926-39. Marjan Mkhitaryan does not perform dances, she lives in this music, how organic, natural, and simple everything is. Listening to it, you are amazed by one feature — complete transparency, and clarity of texture. Remarkable is the almost complete rejection of the colorful possibilities and the function of the pedal. At the same time, the following is surprising: with a pedal minimum, an extraordinary volume, and wide openness of sound. It seems that this is because all kinds of imitations, left-hand overtones, and articulations are remarkable in their accuracy, and the accuracy of the nature of the sound of various instruments contributes to the maximum disunity of voices.

Noting the special complexity of the Piano Dances by Komitas, Marjik Mkhitaryan said that she rarely asked her students. A musician accustomed to other norms may simply not find the character of the performance if he approaches Komitas’s miniatures with ordinary measurements.

It is no coincidence that Marjan Mkhitaryan’s methodical work “Children’s Piano Albums and Komitas’s Contribution to this Field” appeared, an interesting and extraordinary work. Here, for the first time among the children’s albums of Robert Schumann, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Béla Bartók, and Aram Khachaturian, children’s plays by Komitas are considered.

Marjik Mkhitaryan always played new works with ease and pleasure, and, it should be noted, the cycle of concerts, where the novelty of the programs of each concert was the initial and indispensable condition. We mean the long-term (about 20 years) program of the honored worker of arts Tsitsiliya Brutyan «Nastolgic voices», one of the permanent participants of which was Marjik Mkhitaryan.
The goal, the idea of this program — to familiarize the general public with the works of foreign Armenians — was quite progressive for that time. From the concerts of the program «Nastolgic Voices» (approximately 1960-1980), which took place in the concert hall of the Composers’ Union of Armenia, we began our acquaintance with the work of such prominent musicians as Parsegh Ganatchian (Barsegh Kanachyan), Alan Hovhaness, Arakel Tatian, Ludwig Basil,

and many others. By the way, our acquaintance with the music of Loris Tjeknavorian began with these concerts.

Speaking about the teaching activity of Marjik Mkhitaryan, one can see that performance and pedagogy have always peacefully coexisted side by side, without causing damage to each other. In teaching, we can notice all the traits inherent in her: calmness, gentleness, and kindness. But with the gentleness of Marjik Mkhitaryan, it was impossible to come to the lesson unprepared, the students felt that this would offend her.

Being a demanding, demanding teacher, she was rarely satisfied and rarely praised (a characteristic feature of Konstantin Igumnov as a teacher).

The circle of friends of the Atayan (and Mkhitaryan) family was unusually wide.

Unforgettable was Robert Atayan and Marjan Mkhitaryan’s close contact with Catholicos of All Armenians — Vazgen I, an extraordinary, wise, educated man, whose deep knowledge included an interest in music (he had wonderful recordings of classical music); their private meetings usually took place at the main residence of the Catholicos of All Armenians.

The family has preserved memories of meetings with Nikoghayos Tigranian, Vasily Korganov (Ghorghanyan) Korganov. Avetik Isahakyan used to visit the old house.

Many Moscow musicians, coming to Yerevan with concerts or to the Yerevan State Conservatory on business, were certainly received in the hospitable house of the Atayans. Teachers Teodor Gutman and Yakov Milstein, Takov Flier, Grigory Ginzburg, Naum Shtarkman, and many others have been here.

In their apartment in the House of the Composers’ Union of Armenia, one could often meet prominent Armenian musicians — composers, theorists, and pianists: Alexander Arutiunian, Arno Babajanyan, Edvard Mirzoyan, Martin Mazmanyan, Haro Stepanian, Yelena
Ter-Ghevondyan, Georgy Tigranov, Adam Khudoyan, Kathy Malkhasyan, and Karp Dombaev.

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