Vartan Vahramian

Vartan Vahramian
وارطان واهرامیان
Born	Vartan Vahramian 1955 (age 68–69) Tabriz, Iran
Known for	Music, painting, composer, conducting, film
Movement	Surrealism
Father	Grigor Vahramian Gasparbeg

Vartan Vahramian (Persian: وارطان واهرامیان; Armenian: Վարդան Վահրամեան; born 1955) is an Iranian-Armenian composer, artist and painter. He has made musical creations, solo performances as a baritone, and conducted choirs.

Early life

Vartan Vahramian was born in 1955 in Tabriz, East Azerbaijan, Iran.^[1] He is the son of artist Grigor Vahramian Gasparbeg; and musician and painter Marousia Vahramian. These two arts of music and painting have manifested themselves equally in his work.^[2][3] His father was of Armenian descent.

On the occasion of his birthday, a brief biography of Vartan Vahramian was published by the Ministry of Art, Town Hall, Tabriz; published on 18 November 2018.^[4]

Career

Music

Vartan Vahramian has studied harmony under both Iran's and Armenia's maestros. He has 75 musical compositions. Vartan Vahramian has also been the founder and conductor of "Komitas" church choir since 1980. The Komitas Choir have performed at the St. Thaddeus and St. Stephanos Monasteries every year since 1980.^{[5][6][7][8][9]}

In 2000–2001, his Requiem, Oratorio, and Mass, to mark the 1700th anniversary of Christianity as the state religion in Armenia, was performed by Yerevan's "Komitas" conservatory choir. In 2006, he was invited to Armenia, where his "Looys Aravoti" was performed at the "One Nation, One Culture"^[10][11] festival to great acclaim. "Looys Aravoti", with words by Vahagn Davtyan and "Jah Haverjakan", with words by Varand, have been composed with great inspiration, emotion and devotion. His Mass in contemporary musical style was performed at the "One Nation, One Culture" in Yerevan in 2010.

In 2006 a short film titled The Lonely Tadeh (about St Taddeus's Monastery in Iran) was directed by Hussein Homayounfar and the music was composed by Vartan Vahramian.^[12]

In 2011 a short animated film of St. Stepanos Monastery was made, directed by Reza Shams, for cultural use. The music for this film was composed by Vartan Vahramian. The actual video is on YouTube.^[13]

On 13 July 2013, the documentary film Maroosya was premiered in Yerevan, Armenia. It was selected as one of the non-competition documentary films to be shown at The Golden Apricot Armenian Film Festival 2013. The accompanying music for this film is composed by Vartan Vahramian. The film was directed by Navid Mikhak.^[14] "Maroosya" was screened in Kazan International Film Festival in September 2014 and at Arpa International Film Festival in November 2014.^[15]

On 7 January 2020 a video titled- Tabriz Nostalgia in the Paintings of Maroosya was featured in an online newspaper called Tabriz Emrooz. The music accompanying the 6.05-minute video was composed by Vartan Vahramian.^[16]

On 16 February 2024, the Islamic Republic of Iranian's Ministry of Culture held an appreciation evening for three musicians at Naji Cinema. One of the musicians was Vartan Vahramian, who was thanked for their contribution to music for the last 43 years.^{[17][18][19][20][21][22]}

Vartan Vahramian is an Associate Member of the Guild of International Songwriters and Composers, U.K. He has received an award from Catholicos Garegin I for his cultural work. He lives in Tabriz, where he teaches music and painting and continues to work on both his music and painting.^[23][24]

Painting

Vartan Vahramian is also a talented painter known for his Surrealistic style.^[25] His oil paintings have been exhibited extensively in various galleries in Iran and have received coverage both in Iranian and foreign newspapers and media.^{[26][27][28][29]}

His well-known works include Miracle, Check Mate, Death of Apollo,^[30] Eve Facing the Serpent, Profound Devotion, Belated Love, Identity Crisis, Betrayal and Longing.^[31]

A novel titled Speaking Cat by Beverley Coghlan was published in February 2015. All the sketches in this book are entirely Vartan Vahramian's creations.^[32]

Film

In 2006, Vartan Vahramian starred in the award-winning film Tabriz: Images from the Forgotten World. The film also featured a soundtrack composed by Vahramian and was the winner of the Best Foreign Short Screenplay from the Moondance International Film Festival in July 2006. A 33 minute documentary on the life and work of Vartan Vahramian was released in 2002. The documentary was in Persian and produced in Iran.^[33]

See also

• List of Armenian artists
• List of Armenians
• List of Iranian Armenians

References

1. Biography, Interview Archived 13 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Interview from Iran-Newspaper
2. Biography Archived 29 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Iranian Painters: Armenian
3. Sadegh zadeh, Shahram (2021). "Holding an exhibition of paintings and drawings by the artist's mother and daughter in Tabriz; blooming like an oyster". Asr Azadi (in Persian). Ask Azadi. Archived from the original on 15 August 2021. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
4. "Stars of Tabriz Art". honar.tabriz.ir (in Persian). Archived from the original on 30 January 2019. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
5. "Pilgrimage to St. Thaddeus (Tadeh) Monastery". Armenians Today (Hayern Aysor). Armenians Today Online Newspaper. 2015. Archived from the original on 1 April 2019. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
6. "Vartan Vahramian: Painter,musician and leader of the church choir of Tabriz". tabrizpedia. 2018. Archived from the original on 1 April 2019. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
7. "Vartan Vahramian: painter, composer, conductor of Tabriz's Church choir". tabrizpedia.info (in Persian). Archived from the original on 1 October 2020. Retrieved 27 November 2020.
8. Kumar, T (27 June 2021). "The 26th anniversary of the consecration of the election of Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia Aram I was celebrated in the churches of the Armenian Diocese of Atrpatakan". NewsWep. Archived from the original on 18 July 2021. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
9. Rasaneh, Sirang (2021). "St. Sarkis Church 2021 Tourist Attraction in Tabriz". Iran Tourism and Touring Organization (NGO). ITTO. Archived from the original on 3 August 2021. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
10. Ter Minasyan, Anush (2002). "Return to the Roots". aravot.am. Aravot Newspaper. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
11. One Nation, One Culture Report Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, One Nation, One Culture Report
12. "The Lonely Tadeh". Filmio. Archived from the original on 22 April 2019. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
13. Saint Stepanos Monastery Video Archived 10 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine, YouTube
14. Maroosya Archived 22 December 2015 at the Wayback Machine, Maroosya
15. "Documentary MAROOSYA at 2014 Arpa Festival". 11 September 2014. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 20 March 2015.
16. "Tabriz Nostalgia in the Paintings of Maroosya". Namavid.com (in Persian). Tabriz Emrooz. 2020. Archived from the original on 17 November 2020. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
17. "Musician Vartan Vahramian was awarded in Tabriz". Alik Online (in Armenian). Alik Newspaper. 28 February 2024. Archived from the original on 29 February 2024. Retrieved 3 March 2024.
18. "The third Fajr Music Festival of East Azerbaijan ended its work". IRNA (in Persian). IRNA- The Islamic Republic News Agency. 16 February 2024. Archived from the original on 17 February 2024. Retrieved 3 March 2024.
19. "Closing of the 3rd Fajr Music Festival of Azerbaijan". IRIB News Agency (in Persian). 16 February 2024. Archived from the original on 18 February 2024. Retrieved 3 March 2024.
20. Fathollahzadeh, Sahar (17 February 2024). "Closing of the 3rd Fajr Music Festival in Tabriz". www.hanakhabar.ir (in Persian). Hanakhabar News. Archived from the original on 3 March 2024. Retrieved 3 March 2024.
21. "The end of the 3rd Fajr Music Festival of East Azerbaijan". sahebdivan.ir (in Persian). 17 February 2024. Archived from the original on 3 March 2024. Retrieved 3 March 2024.
22. Sadeghzadeh, Shahram (19 February 2024). "Interest In Music Is Azerbaijani". Asre Azadi Online (in Persian). Asre Azadi. Archived from the original on 3 March 2024. Retrieved 3 March 2024.
23. Report masde arte.com Archived 27 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Report from masde arte.com
24. "Material support for artists' works should be provided by executive bodies". www.tabrizart.com (in Persian). Tabriz Art. 30 May 2018. Archived from the original on 16 August 2021. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
25. "Vartan Vahramian the surrealist painter of Tabriz". tabriz-emrooz.ir (in Persian). Tabriz Emrooz. Archived from the original on 7 February 2018. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
26. "The paintings of Vartan Vahramian". BBC Persian. 2003. Archived from the original on 31 January 2016. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
27. Iran-Newspaper Report Archived 13 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Iran-Newspaper Report
28. "The Greatest Famous Surrealist Artists". www.ranker.com. Ranker. 15 June 2018. Archived from the original on 18 July 2021. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
29. "Presentation of works by 24 prominent painters in Tabriz". www.ettelaat.com (in Persian). Ettelaat. 11 November 2014. Archived from the original on 16 August 2021. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
30. Anzabi, Aziz (2016). "Aziz art December 2016". Aziz Art. Archived from the original on 13 April 2021. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
31. Madani, Shirin (2019). "Vartan Vahramian". My Blue Paints. Archived from the original on 1 April 2019. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
32. Coghlan, Beverley (10 March 2015). Speaking Cat. Lulu.com. ISBN 978-1-326-09584-0.
33. "A short documentary on Vartan Vahramian". short movies.ir (in Persian). 2002. Archived from the original on 15 November 2020. Retrieved 15 November 2020.

External links

• Vartan Vahramian at IMDb 
• Tabriz: Images from the Forgotten World