Bio
Vasken Ohanian
Multi-faceted Armenian-American composer, conductor, and countertenor Vasken Ohanian is fascinated with the expressive depth and complexity of the human experience through music. In his compositions he explores and reimagines familiar concepts and stories to draw out and reexamine their true meanings, such as in his reimagining of the story of Cain and Abel in Recollections of the Forgotten – an oratorio in remembrance of the Armenian Genocide. When describing Vasken's music, the late Conrad Susa remarked, "It sent shivers down my spine." Vasken is a winner of the Kris Getz Composition Competition for his Rhapsody on an Armenian Lullaby and was a recipient of the Dean Emeritus Luis Costa Award for Music.
Vasken Ohanian is not limited in his artistry by his robust training in Western Art Music. His experiences as a thespian, hip-hop dancer, and amateur oud player all find their ways into his writing. Armenian music especially has had a profound effect on his musical identity. His compositions often include elements of his Armenian cultural background. He regularly advocates for the increased performance of Armenian choral/vocal music in the United States, including through his publishing company, VAOMusik Publishing, which produces a publication series of choral/vocal works called The Komitas Series. The aim of this series is to create performance editions of Choral/Vocal music by great Armenian classical composers in a format that is accessible and performable by non-Armenian speaking ensembles.
In performance Vasken Ohanian is motivated to embody the essence of the music and immerse audiences into the world of the composer. In 2012 he served as Co-director and Resident Conductor for the 4th Annual Hot Air Music Festival, where conducted the West-Coast premiere of Benjamin Boyle's Cantata, To One in Paradise. Most recently, he was the Interim Director of Choral/Vocal Studies and Golden West College. He is also quickly becoming recognized for his work as a countertenor. Since his debut in 2011 as countertenor soloist in the San Francisco Conservatory's performance of in Leonard Bernstein's Chichester Psalms, he has made appearances as Cain in Tesserae Baroque’s production of Alessandro Scarlatti’s Il primo omicidio, countertenor soloist for Pasadena Pro Musica’s Bernstein Bash concert, and other appearances with the Long Beach Camerata Singers, Musica Transalpina, and LA Schola.
Vasken Ohanian is currently the Assistant Artistic Director and Secretary of the Board for the Unprecedented Music Association. He holds a Bachelor of Music in Composition from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and a double Master of Music in Composition and Choral-Conducting from the CSULB Bob Cole Conservatory of Music. He is currently finishing a Doctorate of Philosophy in Composition at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music.
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