Givan Gasparyan Virtuoso of the ancient Armenian musical instrument duduk Country: Armenia

Biography of Djivan Gasparyan

Djivan Gasparyan, a virtuoso of the ancient Armenian musical instrument, the duduk, was born in 1928 in the village of Solag near Yerevan. At the age of six, he began playing the duduk, an Armenian wooden flute. In 1948, he became a member of the Tatul Altunyan Ensemble of National Song and Dance. That same year, he performed for the first time as a soloist with the Yerevan Philharmonic Orchestra. He became the recipient of the Golden Medal of the UNESCO International Competition for Performers four times.

In 1988, Gasparyan moved to the United Kingdom and in 1990, he relocated to the United States, where he began working on the musical scores for films. He provided the soundtrack for approximately twenty films, including "Russian House" (1990), "Calendar" (1992), "The Crow" (1994), "Onegin" (1999), "Gladiator" (2000), and "Frescos" (2003). Throughout his career, he has performed with various orchestras such as the Kronos Quartet (USA), Vienna, Yerevan, and Los Angeles Symphonic Orchestras. He has collaborated with musicians such as Lionel Richie, Brian Eno, Peter Gabriel, and Boris Grebenshikov.

Gasparyan is a professor at the Yerevan Conservatory, where he has trained over 80 professional performers. He was bestowed the title of People's Artist of Armenia in 1973 and received the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score for the film "Gladiator" in 2001.