It was the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition that initially brought Karen Hakobyan to Salt Lake City. And it was the University of Utah that kept him here.
But now, it's the 18-year-old college student who is bringing recognition to the Beehive State.
Recent winner of the 2004 ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Competition, and invited artist in the 2005 Lille International Piano Festival, Hakobyan has distinguished himself as both a composer and a performer in the international music world.
But for now, he is with us.
The Armenian-born musician was 5 when his father first bought a piano. "My sister is five years older than me," he recalled, "and she started to play the piano. Every time she would finish playing, I would go up to the piano and perform the same thing that she had been practicing without even having any knowledge of music. So my parents decided I should start taking lessons."
He was only 6 when his parents enrolled him in the Tchaikovsky Special Music School in Yerevan, Armenia, and 13 when he wrote his first symphony for a full-size orchestra.
"After I finished this symphony, I was commissioned to write my second symphony by a very big festival. It's called the Young Euro-Classic International Festival up in Berlin, and they asked me to compose the second symphony, which was performed in 2001. So I finished it at the age of 15."
It was this second symphony that eventually won the ASCAP award, as well as the Robertson Scholarship in Composition at the University of Utah.
While all of this was going on, Hakobyan was also busy performing with different orchestras and entering competitions. "In fact, one of the biggest accomplishments around then was the Armenian Legacy Pianists International Piano Competition," he said.
It was right after that competition that he heard about the Gina Bachauer competition and decided to enter.
As a 16-year-old, he entered the Young Artists division in 2001. While he was here, he gave a solo recital at the University of Utah, where he was "discovered" by some of the faculty. After being offered a scholarship, he decided to enroll that fall while still only 16.
Now a junior with a double major in piano performance and music composition, Hakobyan says that the U. has been a great place for him. "I've had very great positive experience here, and I've enjoyed my teachers very much," he said, acknowledging both his piano instructor, Susan Duehlmeier, and the several composition faculty members with whom he has studied.
In fact, it was while giving a solo recital at the U. that he was again discovered, this time by maestro Jean-Claude Casadesus, who invited him to be one of about 10 pianists in the 2005 Lille piano festival. "We each get to perform one concerto with the orchestra and also one solo recital," he said. "It's just a very exciting event, and it's something I'm very much looking forward to."
Since entering the U., Hakobyan has taken first prize in a number of competitions — including the Pinault International Audiotape/Videotape Piano Competition, which resulted in a debut recital at Carnegie Hall. "(It) was very well received by the press and also the musicians there," Hakobyan said of the performance.
He added that the ASCAP award is also a significant achievement because it's one of the biggest competitions in the United States for composition. He said they had a record number of people enter this year — about 500— with his age division reaching up to 32 years old.
"I would say it's quite a nice achievement and it's nice to be recognized by the ASCAP competition," he said. One of the most valuable outcomes of the competition, he added, is the recognition and potential for future commissions.
"Many musicians, many conductors and chamber musicians contact you later on for performances for new pieces or commissioning new pieces," he said, "so it's just a very nice opportunity."
Already, he said, he has been contacted by several people interested in seeing his work.
In the meantime, he's hoping to complete a piano concerto that he's writing for himself and a work for string orchestra.
E-mail: rcline@desnews.com