June 1, 2009 - 12:43 AMT
Jivan Gasparyan to give concert in Moscow
Legendary Armenian duduk player Jivan Gasparyan will perform in Moscow International Music House together with his grandson.

"This is the first concert little Jivan will play together with his renowned grandfather," said a representative of RSP-Concert, the organizer of the event, RIA Novosti reported.

Gasparyan started to play duduk when he was six. In 1948 he became a soloist of the Armenian Song and Dance Popular Ensemble and the Yerevan Philarmonic Orchestra. He has won four medals at UNESCO worldwide competitions (1959, 1962, 1973, and 1980). In 1973 Gasparyan was awarded the honorary title People's Artist of Armenia and in 2002, he received the WOMEX (World Music Expo) Lifetime Achievement Award. A professor at the Yerevan State Musical Conservatory, he has instructed and nurtured many performers to professional levels of performance in duduk.

He has toured the world several times with a small ensemble playing Armenian folk music.