Armenian Honor for Tjeknavorian

The celebrated Iranian-born Armenian composer and conductor Loris Tjeknavorian received the First Degree Medal of Armenia during a ceremony in Yerevan.

The Armenian President Serzh Azati Sargsyan presented the medal to Tjeknavorian during the ceremony, which was held on the occasion of Armenia Independent Day, Iran’s Embassy in Armenia said, ISNA reported.

During the ceremony, Tjeknavorian said that he is proud of being an Iranian artist and also to be able to establish a deep relationship between the two nations with his works, Mehr News Agency said.

Loris Tjeknavorian was born in 1937 in Borujerd in the southwestern Iranian Province of Lorestan and was educated in Tehran. After he studied violin and piano at the Tehran Conservatory of Music, he studied composition at the Vienna Music Academy, where he graduated with honors in 1961.

Tjeknavorian has performed throughout the world, having conducted international orchestras in Austria, Britain, the United States, Canada, Hungary, Iran, Finland, the former Soviet Union, Armenia, Thailand, Hong Kong, South Africa and Denmark.

His own compositions have been performed by major orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, the American Symphony Orchestra in New York and the Tehran Symphony Orchestra.

The medal is bestowed annually to Armenians who boost Armenian culture and art in other parts of the world.