Alexander Spendiaryan

Full biography Alexander Spendiaryan

Alexander Spendiaryan was an Armenian-Soviet music composer who was born on March 1st, 1871, in the city of Kakhovka, Ukraine, and died on December 7th, 1928, in Tbilisi, Georgia. He is known for his significant contributions to Armenian classical music and is considered the founder of Armenian national symphonic music. Spendiaryan studied at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, where he took private lessons in composition with the famous Russian composer Rimsky-Korsakov in the late 1890s.

Throughout his career , Spendiaryan wrote numerous orchestral works, chamber music, operas, and ballets. One of his most famous pieces is the opera "Almast," which premiered in 1913 and is still performed in Armenia today. Spendiaryan's music often incorporated elements of Armenian folk music, and he was a renowned pedagogue who taught many Soviet composers.

Apart from being a composer , Spendiaryan was also a conductor, and he established the first Armenian symphony orchestra in 1925 in Yerevan. He was a prominent figure in the Armenian cultural scene, and his contributions to Armenian classical music are still celebrated today.

There is a dedicated house-museum in Yerevan, Armenia, that is dedicated to Spendiaryan, where visitors can learn more about his life and work.