Sergey Khachatryan Biography

Born in Yerevan, Armenia, Sergey Khachatryan won First Prize at the VIII International Jean Sibelius Competition in Helsinki in 2000, becoming the youngest ever winner in the history of the competition. In 2005 he claimed First Prize at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels.

In recent seasons, Sergey has performed with the Bamberger Symphoniker (Herbert Blomstedt and Jonathan Nott), Münchner Philharmoniker (James Gaffigan), Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra (Valcuha), Mariinsky Orchestra (Valery Gergiev) and Orchestre de Paris (Andris Nelsons and Gianandrea Noseda). He has also collaborated with the Berliner Philharmoniker, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Radio Filharmonisch Orkest, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Orchestre National de France, London Symphony, London Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra, NHK Symphony and the Sydney and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras.

Sergey’s most recent appearances in the US were with the Seattle Symphony (Ludovic Morlot), Los Angeles Philharmonic (Morlot) and National Symphony Orchestra Washington (Vasily Petrenko). He has also visited the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra and San Francisco Symphony as well as the Ravinia, Blossom and Mostly Mozart Festivals.

Highlights of the 2017/18 season include Sergey’s debuts at the Aspen Festival in Colorado, the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg with the Hamburger Symphoniker and at the Salzburger Festspiele performing Beethoven’s Violin Concerto. Re-invitations include the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra dell’Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Rotterdam and Royal Flemish Philharmonic Orchestras, St Petersburg Philharmonic, and the Cleveland Orchestra Last season began with a tour of Japan with the Nippon Foundation and saw returns to the Seattle Symphony with Ludovic Morlot, the Orchestre National de France, the Philharmonia Orchestra, Orchestre National de Bordeaux Aquitaine, Orchestre National de Belgique, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and National Symphony Orchestra Washington. Sergey also made his debut with the Ulster Orchestra, Gulbenkian Orchestra, Stavanger Symphony Orchestra and the Nürnberger Symphoniker.

At the beginning of the 2014/15 season, Sergey performed Beethoven’s Violin Concerto at the Lucerne Festival with the Vienna Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel as the latest recipient of the Credit Suisse Young Artist Award. Notable concerts of the 2015/16 season included performing at the Masion de la Radio France under the baton of Daniele Gatti with the Orchestre National de France, projects with the Amsterdam Sinfonietta, Valencia Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Orchestra della Toscana, and the Orchestre de Paris with whom he played Brahms Double Concerto for Violin and Cello in A minor with Hakhnazaryan. Further collaborations included projects with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, Sudwestrundfunk Sinfonieorchester, Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, and the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. Sergey and Lusine are regular duo partners. Together, they have given recitals at Konzerthaus Dortmund, Wigmore Hall (London), Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and Cité de la Musique (Paris), Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Palais des Beaux Arts (Brussels), Philharmonie Luxembourg, Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall (New York) and Herbst Theater (San Francisco). This season sees the pair’s debut at the Victoria Hall (Geneva) and a return to Auditori Nacional Madrid.

Sergey and Lusine’s most recent recording of Armenian music My Armenia for Naïve Classique, dedicated to the 100th commemoration of the Armenian genocide, has been awarded the Echo Klassik for Chamber Music Recording (20th/21st Century)/Mixed Ensemble. Together they have also recorded Brahms Three Sonatas for Violin and Piano. Sergey’s discography on the label also includes the Sibelius and Khachaturian concerti with Sinfonia Varsovia and Emmanuel Krivine, both Shostakovich concerti with the Orchestre National de France and Kurt Masur, a recording of the Shostakovich and Franck sonatas for violin and piano and the complete sonatas and partitas for solo violin by J.S. Bach. Sergey plays the 1740 Ysaÿe Guarneri violin on kind loan from the Nippon Music Foundation.