Vartan Agopian

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Life

Born: 26 July 1985

Biography

Born in 1985 in Beirut, Vartan Agopian attended the Armenian Evangelical Gertmenian School until 1988 when his family fled to Cyprus because of the Civil War. After 3 years in the Nareg School in Limassol and Nicosia, Vartan returned to Beirut and attended the Armenian Evangelical Central High School until his graduation in 2003 as class valedictorian. At school, Vartan has been the president of his class for 5 years and has led the school choir and band during his Middle School and High School years.

Parallel to his academic life, Vartan Agopian began studying piano (in 1990) with Alina Dakessian in Cyprus and upon returning to Beirut, he joined the Tekelian Conservatory of Music and studied piano with Liza Berberian and Hasmig Baghdjian. In 1998, he began piano studies at the Lebanese National Conservatory with Prof. Arthur Satyan.

Also, since 1999, Vartan has been a leader for numerous children’s summer schools and camps in Lebanon, Cyprus and Syria.

In 2003, Vartan joined the Haigazian University Education Department. Alongside his university studies, Vartan taught music at his Alma Mater for 2 years and directed 2 Christmas programs. Later, in 2005, he moved to CTI (Christian Teaching Institute) where he has been teaching music, and directing the school choir, Christmas and end-year musicals for 6 years and has been the school counselor for 3 years, planning and administering both prevention and intervention programs for students of all ages, as well as organizing the values education and behavioral management of the Elementary school.

Vartan has played in numerous concerts organized by the National Conservatory, has been the pianist for the Armenian Evangelical Children’s Choir for two years, has accompanied students from the vocal department on the National Conservatory from 2005 – 2007, has accompanied the AUB choir, choral society and ensemble polyphonica in their concerts since 2007 and has accompanied the choirs of various schools such as ACS and CTI during their concerts. Vartan Agopian has performed F. Schubert’s Die Winterreise with tenor Ziad Nehme on the stage of AUB Assembly Hall in 2007. In July 2007, Vartan Agopian graduated from Haigazian University with a BA in Elementary Education and a Teaching Diploma with High Honors.

Since his graduation, Vartan has been invited to lecture in different Elementary and High schools on educational, psychological and social topics. In 2008, he was asked to be the guest speaker for an undergraduate class at Haigazian University and in 2009 he was asked to share his experiences as a counselor with the students of a graduate class at the same university. Musically, Vartan started working in “Sound” studios (of Lucien Salloum) as pianist and arranger and has participated in the production of numerous CDs.

In February 2010, Vartan received his MA degree in Counseling Psychology from Haigazian University. Since then, he has been tutoring graduate students and assisting them in their research papers and theses. In March 2010, Vartan Agopian was honored to be chosen judge for 3 different music competitions: The AUB Haggar solo competition, the IC Middle School and High School solo competition and the Choral Competition of Francophonic Schools in Lebanon. In April 2010, Vartan was the guest speaker at the School Counseling graduate class at LAU where he shared his experiences as a counselor though a lecture titled “What’s Going on Behind that Closed Door?”

In July 2010, Vartan Agopian participated in Le Festival de Kfarbedian where he accompanied mezzo soprano Tara Maalouf and her fellow vocalists. Shorty after that, he performed his first solo concert, “A Hymnal Arrangement between Classical and Jazz” at ABTS. In August 2010, Vartan traveled to Prague and recorded the Stronghold’s Classical album (piano arrangements by himself) with The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra (conductor, Miriam Němcová). In October 2010, Vartan was asked to write in “The Armenian Educator”, a magazine for Armenian teachers and educators in Lebanon and elsewhere. Vartan provided 2 articles to the magazine, “Five Techniques to Successfully Miseducate Your Students” and “Using Music Classes to Help Children Get Over Stress”, which will be published throughout the year 2011. In December 2010, Vartan Agopian conducted the ACS Advanced Choir (conductor, Yara Rubb) as they performed one of his original compositions, Oror (Armenian Lullaby). Two weeks later, Vartan presented his second solo concert, “A Christmas Journey between the Notes” at ABTS, where he also launched his first CD (a live recording of the same program as the concert) and signed copies for fans, friends and family.

Vartan Agopian has been teaching the “University Culture” unit in the Orientation department at Haigazian University since Fall 2008, and in Fall 2010-11, Vartan taught EDU/PSY/SOW 202 (Basic Statistics for Social and Behavioral Sciences) at the same university.

Vartan has accompanied many choirs, ensembles and soloists in the past years and has had the honor of performing in Al Bustan Festival with the AUB Choir. Vartan has had many radio and TV appearances both as a musician and a counselor. He was interviewed on Radio Voice of Van and on Future TV in 2007 before and after his performance of Die Winterreise. In May 2008, he was invited to discuss the ups and downs of school counseling on Radio Liban. In November 2009, he was interviewed, once again, on Future TV after having accompanied May Nasr in her concert of releasing her new album “Melh W Succar” (where Vartan had 3 arrangements). In 2010, Vartan was interviewed twice on Radio Voice of Van, before each of his solo concerts. In December of the same year, Vartan appeared on Al Hurra TV, accompanying the famous Lebanese-Canadian jazz singer, Randa Ghossoub.

In February, Vartan accompanied the Selected Group of the ACS Choir in their modern and jazz repertoire, and in April, he conducted the same group as they sang his original composition, Wild Rose. During the same concert, Vartan accompanied the choir, this time on the pipe organ of the Assembly Hall, as they performed “Gloria” by Vivaldi. Recently, Vartan Agopian’s choir, CTI Cantores, formed in October 2010, participated in the Zaki Nassif Choral Competition in AUB Assembly Hall. Vartan Agopian continues to work as a music teacher and school counselor, has a group of private piano students and participates in numerous concerts and musical endeavors throughout the year.

List of choral works

 
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Publications

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