Sofya Melikyan, piano and keyboards, was born in 1978 in Yerevan, Armenia. Beginning her music studies at the age of five, she attended the Tchaikovsky Specialized Music School of Yerevan, studying piano with Anahit Shahbazyan. In 1994, Ms. Melikyan moved to Spain, where she continued her studies at the Royal Conservatory of Madrid, under the tutelage of pianist Joaquin Soriano. Upon graduating with the Highest Honor Prize in 1999, she worked with Galina Egiazarova in Madrid and Brigitte Engerer in Paris. In 2001, she began post-graduate studies in the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris Alfred Cortot under the guidance of pianist Ramzi Yassa, where she unanimously received the Diplome Superieure d’Execution in 2003. Currently living in New York, Ms. Melikyan has recently completed her Master of Music degree in piano performance at the Manhattan School of Music of New York, where she was a scholarship student of Cuban pianist Solomon Mikowsky. During her musical studies, Ms. Melikyan has actively participated in Master Classes with such musicians as Vitali Margulis, John O’Connor, Fanny Solter, Francois-Rene Duchable, Piotr Paleczny, and Menahem Pressler.Awards she has earned include First Prize and a Prize for outstanding Music Talent at the Marisa Montiel 16th International Piano Competition in Linares, Spain (1997), First Prize at the 13th International Piano Competition in Ibiza, Spain (1999), First Prize for Music Interpretation awarded by Amigos del Colegio de Espana Association in Paris (2003), Fourth Prize and a Prize for the best Performance of Spanish Music at the 15th Jose Iturbi International Piano Competition in Valencia, Spain (2006). To date, Ms. Melikyan has toured throughout Spain, Germany, France, Russia, Armenia, Italy, Serbia, and the U.S. She appeared as a soloist with the Armenian National Symphony Orchestra, Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra of Spain, Malaga Symphony Orchestra, Valencia Symphony Orchestra, and the New Europe Chamber Orchestra. Ms. Melikyan’s Festival appearances include solo recitals, chamber music, and concerto performances at prestigious Domenico Scarlatti, Valladolid, Canary Islands, Ibiza International Festivals in Spain, BEMUS International Music Festival in Belgrade, and the Creil Festival in France. Recent performance activities include a debut recital at Carnegie’s Weill Hall in New York, concerts in Palau de Valencia in Spain, Salle Cortot in Paris, la Caixa Forum and live broadcast on the National Radio of Catalonia in Barcelona, appearance at the Dame Myra Hess Series and live broadcast on WFMT in Chicago, three concerts as a soloist and in ensemble at the First Armenian Music Festival in the Juan March Foundation’s Concert Hall in Madrid.
An avid chamber musician, she has been mentored by Daniel Epstein at the Manhattan School of Music, performing to much critical acclaim with various ensembles in Europe and the U.S., including the Silvestri ensemble and regularly performing with musicians of the Radio and Television Orchestra of Spain. In 2005, her piano duo was a winner of the Lillian Fuchs Chamber Music Competition at the Manhattan School of Music. She has made many live recordings for radio and relevision broadcasts in Europe and the U.S. To name a few: National Radio and Television of Spain, National Radio and Television of Armenia, Chicago’s WFMT radio station, and Muzzik French Television Station. Ms. Melikyan has also released two CDs featuring the music of Haydn, Schumann, Rachmaninoff, Albeniz, Dutilleux, and Khachaturian.
Ms. Melikyan has performed in several concerts on the Musica Bella Chamber Music Series, including a solo recital coming up on May 1, 2011. The orchestra concerts mentioned directly below refer to her playing the organ in our Bach B-Minor Mass performances, demonstrating her versatility. We have been trying to coordinate our schedules so she could play a piano concerto with us ever since then, and we have finally succeeded.
Musica Bella Orchestra concerts: January 26, 2008; January 27, 2008
This bio last updated January 1, 2008