19-year-old Armenian cellist NAREK HAKHNAZARYAN won First Prize in the 2008 Young Concert Artists International Auditions.  In October 2008 he makes his debuts in the Young Concert Artists Series at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall in New York, sponsored by the Jerome L. Greene Foundation Prize, and at the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater in Washington, DC.  During the 2008-2009 season he also appears as soloist with the Westmoreland Symphony (PA), as well as in recital at Saint Vincent College (PA), Lincoln County Concert Association (NC), Patrons for Young Artists (NY), The Paramount Theatre (VT) and The Colonial Theatre (MA).

At the Young Concert Artists International Auditions, Mr. Hakhnazaryan was also awarded the Paul A. Fish Memorial Prize, the Ruth Laredo Memorial Prize, the Slomovic Orchestra Soloist Prize, the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival Prize, the Buffalo Chamber Music Society Prize, the Candlelight Concert Society Prize, the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts Prize, the Princeton University Concerts Prize, the Roberto Montenegro Prize and the Saint Vincent College Series Prize.

Mr. Hakhnazaryan is a laureate of several international competitions, including First Prize in the 2006 Aram Khachaturian International Competition in Armenia, First Place in the 2006 Johansen International Competition for Young String Players, and Fifth Prize at the 2007 Tchaikovsky International Competition in Moscow.  He has received scholarships from the Rostropovich Russian Performing Arts Fund and has performed in Russia, Germany, Italy, Austria, France, Great Britain, Greece, Turkey and Canada.

Mr. Hakhnazaryan was born in 1988 in Yerevan, Armenia, into a family of musicians: his father is a violinist and his mother is a pianist.  His early studies were at the Sayat-Nova School of Music in Yerevan with Zareh Sarkisyan.  At the age of 12, he began studies at the Moscow Conservatory with Alexey Seleznyov.