Avet Terterian

Alfred Roubenovich "Avet" Terterian (also Terteryan) (Armenian: Ալֆրեդ "Ավետ" Տերտերյան, July 29, 1929 in Baku, Transcaucasian SSR, Soviet Union – December 11, 1994 in Yekaterinburg, Russia) was an Armenian composer, awarded the Konrad Adenauer Prize.Terterian composed eight (completed) symphonies, several of which are recorded, an opera and several chamber works.Terterian was a friend and colleague of Giya Kancheli, Konstantin Orbelyan, and Tigran Mansurian. Dmitri Shostakovich praised Terterian as "very talented" and "with great future" in one of his letters, published by his friend Isaak Glikman, having heard a recording of Terterian's works at Armenia's "House of Composers" summer resort in Dilijan, Armenia.He studied at the Music Academy in Baku from 1948, and moved to the Romanos-Melikian Music Academy in 1951.He studied composition at the Komitas State Conservatory in Yerevan from 1952. He was Executive Secretary of the Armenian Composers’ Union from 1960 to 1963. He was Chairman of the Music Department at the Armenian Cultural Ministry from 1970 and 1974. He joined Yerevan Conservatory as a professor in 1985. In 1989, he moved to the village of Ayrivank, located on the western shore of Lake Sevan, Gegharkunik region of Armenia.Yekaterinburg's annual music festival is named after Terterian.Giya Kancheli's work Styx, written for solo viola, chorus, and orchestra is a farewell to his friends Terterian and Alfred Schnittke, whose names are sung by the choir during the work.Terterian's son, Dr. Ruben Terterian, is a professor of music in Samborondón, Ecuador and former prorector at the Komitas State Conservatory of Yerevan.