Vahe Aharonyan

Vahe Aharonyan was born on October 20, 1933, in Sofia, into the family of the sculptor Grigory Aharonyan.

He began studying the piano in 1939 with a teacher of German origin, Susie Hibaum. His musical education then continued in the class of Professor Andrey Stoyanov at the Sofia People’s Academy. After the family relocated to Armenia in 1946, Aharonyan pursued his studies at the Tchaikovsky Secondary Special Music School and subsequently at the music school named after Romanos Melikian.

In 1952, Aharonyan enrolled at the Yerevan Komitas Conservatory, where he studied under Professor Robert Andreasian. During his student years, his repertoire expanded significantly to include works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Liszt, Alexander Scriabin, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Sergei Prokofiev, and Arno Babajanyan.

According to Professor Robert Andreasian, Vahe Aharonyan was his favorite student and the most outstanding among those he taught.

In 1957, Aharonyan became a First Degree Laureate at the Republican Piano Competition. In the same year, he participated in the All-Union Festival of Youth and Students held in Moscow. In 1960, he was awarded the title of Second Degree Laureate at the First Transcaucasian Piano Competition in Baku.

In 1964, the pianist completed his postgraduate studies at the Yerevan State Conservatory.

Vahe Aharonyan taught at the Yerevan Conservatory from 1960 to 1994. Beginning in 1978, he served first as an associate professor and later as a full professor. From 1987 onward, he was the Head of the Department of Special Piano at the Yerevan State Conservatory.

Since 1974, he held the title of Honored Artist of the Armenian Republic. He was also a soloist of the Armenian State Philharmonic and gave numerous concerts both in Armenia and abroad.

His concert repertoire was exceptionally broad, encompassing works by Bach and Scarlatti, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Liszt, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Debussy, Scriabin, Prokofiev, Hindemith, Ravel, Babajanyan, as well as Armenian composers Aristakesyan, Hovunts, and Mnatskanyan.

Aharonyan possessed a brilliant, virtuosic technique combined with refined and subtle musicality. According to colleagues and friends, he was a teacher of the highest professionalism and erudition, a man distinguished by exceptional modesty, aristocratic dignity, and profound moral integrity.

Over the course of his pedagogical career, more than 150 pianists graduated from the class of Professor Vahe Aharonyan. He was also the author of several methodological works and several piano transcriptions.