Professor of the Yerevan State Conservatory after Komitas
Ziline Zakaryan was born on June 7, 1929, in Yerevan in the family of a prominent Armenian composer, People’s Artist of Armenia Karo Zakaryan. Her mother, Varduhi, was a musician. She was the founder and the first director of the Music School after Sayat-Nova, and for many years, she was also the director of the Music School after Alexander Spendiaryan.
In 1936, Ziline was accepted into the group of gifted children at the Yerevan State Conservatory. Her first piano teacher was Olga Babasyan. In the 1939-1940 academic years, young Ziline began studying at a ten-year school at the conservatory, in the class of Nina Kushnareva (she graduated from the conservatory in 1946). In the same year, Zakaryan entered the Yerevan State Conservatory in the class of Professor Georgy Sarajev and studied the chamber ensemble in the class of Karen Kostanyan. However, her studies at the conservatory were interrupted for two years due to problems with her right hand. The attending doctors could not guarantee the possibility to return to the chosen profession, but Ziline Zakaryan did not give up hope for recovery, and, without ceasing to do special exercises, developed the pianistic skills of her left hand. Hard work, dedication to her favorite profession, and faith above all, helped her overcome her illness. It is interesting that in the subsequent years, due to the “lag” of her right hand, she had to work on equalizing the technical capabilities of both hands.
During her studies, Ziline Zakaryan began working at the Radio as a choir accompanist (1948-1952). During these years, she took an active part in the first performance of chamber instrumental and choral works of her father, as well as works by Aro (Haro) Stepanian, Martin Mazmanyan, Arno Babajanyan, Geghuni Chitchyan, Gagik Hovunts, and other composers. She performed with the choir on the air and recorded new works by Armenian composers with the ensemble.
In 1970-1973, with the violin ensemble of the State Television and Radio of Armenia under the direction of Gevorg Ajemyan, Ziline Zakaryan for the first time performed new works by Alexander Arutiunian, Tsolak Bekarya, Stepan Dzherbashyan, Sergei Kesayan and other composers of Armenia, as well as adaptations and arrangements of works by Western European classics and Russian composers, made by Gevorg Ajemyan, especially for the ensemble.
In 1953, having graduated with honors from the Yerevan State Conservatory, Zakaryan began working there as an accompanist in the violin classes of Professor G. Bogdanyan and the cello classes of Professor G. Adamyan. Those were the years of her accompanist activity. It is enough to note the diplomas for the best accompaniment at the Trans-Caucasian competitions (in 1965 and 1977), at the All-Union Cello Competition in Tbilisi (in 1981, participants Varuzhan Bartikyan and Levon Muradyan became laureates), and at the All-Russian Competition of Young Musicians in Krasnodar (in 1989, cellist Alexander Chaushian Jr. became a laureate).
Over the years of her accompanist activity, Ziline Zakaryan performed with various soloists: cellists Gurgen Adamyan and Alexander Chaushian Jr., violinists Villi Mokatsyan and Eric Arakelov; singers Olga Gabayan, Rafael Hakobyants, Robert Baburyan, Romanian tenor Garbis Zobyan and others.
In 1983, the «Melodia» Company released a recording of twenty-four preludes for cello and piano by Sulkhan Tsintsadze, performed by Varuzhan Bartikyan and Ziline Zakaryan. They performed the same preludes in a solo concert held in 1984 in the capital of Georgia at the invitation of their Tbilisi colleagues.
With Varuzhan Bartikyan, Ziline Zakaryan performed Arshak Ikilikian’s Sonata for Cello and Piano for the first time.
A solo concert was also played in Tbilisi with the young cellist Alexander Chaushian.
It is especially necessary to note the creative collaboration of Zakaryan for several years with the People’s Artists of Armenia, violinists Jean Ter-Merguerian, Ruben Aharonyan, and cellist Medea Abrahamyan.
About fifteen solo concerts in cities of the USSR were performed with the laureate of international competitions Medea Abrahamyan.
In 1957, at the invitation of His Holiness Catholicos of All Armenians Vazgen The First, Medea Abrahamyan and Ziline Zakaryan played a solo concert in Etchmiadzin, in the concert hall of the Patriarch’s residence. In Yerevan, with Ziline Zakaryan, Medea Abrahamyan played her first solo concert already as a laureate of the International Hanuš Wihan Cello Competition in Prague. They were touring the cities of Ukraine and the North Caucasus.
Several solo concerts were performed with Ruben Aharonyan (1975-1977). Three of them took place in Moscow in the Big and Small Halls of the Conservatory. In 1975, in Tallinn, R. Aharonyan and Z. Zakaryan performed a solo program.
Ziline Zakaryan also performed with the laureate of international competitions Jean Ter-Mergeryan. They had numerous solo concerts in Armenia, Moscow (in the Great Hall of the Conservatory, in 1976, 1977, and 1980), Kyiv (in 1979), in the three Baltic republics (in 1980), as well as concerts in Czechoslovakia (in 1977-1978), Argentina and Venezuela (in 1977), France and Canada (in 1978), Bulgaria, and Germany (in 1980). The program included works by composers of different eras and styles, including ensemble repertoire.
Radio Armenia stores recordings of forty-five classical and modern sonatas performed by Z. Zakaryan with flutist Levon Aloyan (T. Mansurian, Sonata) and violinist G. Harutyunyan (eight works); cellists G. Adamyan, V. Bartikyan and A. Chaushian; with singers F. Khorenyan and G. Zobyan; Radio Choir and Violin Ensemble under the direction of Gevorg Adjemyan.
In 1964, Ziline Zakaryan began her teaching work at the Yerevan State Conservatory in the General Piano Department and until 1970 she combined it with accompanist activity in the String Instruments Department. In 1970, she started teaching at the Department of Accompanist Training.
More than one hundred sixty undergraduates and more than ten graduate students graduated from Zakaryan’s class. In 1988, she was awarded the title of Associate Professor, and in 1994 — Professor.
Ziline Zakaryan is the editor of the collection “Romances and Songs of Geghuni Chitchyan” (Yerevan., 1986). In 1987, at the Department of Accompanist Training of the Yerevan Conservatory, and later at the Saratov Conservatory, Z. Zakaryan presented a methodological work “On the romance work of Alexander Spendiaryan.” Specialists highly appreciated the work. The published work of Ziline Zakaryan on the composition and editing of the piano part in the collection “Selected Arias from Armenian Operas” deserves attention. This work received practical application long before its publication.
Descendants of Professor Ziline Zakaryan continued working in the field of music. Her son, Suren Zakaryan (1956-2021), was a pianist, a graduate of the Moscow Conservatory, Professor, and head of the Department of Special Piano at the State Conservatory after Komitas. He was a famous composer whose works were performed in Armenia and abroad. One of her two granddaughters, Lilit Zakaryan, is a talented pianist, and laureate of international competitions. She combines solo, ensemble, and accompanist activities.