(b. 10 October 1983, Yerevan).

Armenian composer of mostly chamber, vocal and piano works that have been performed in Europe and elsewhere; he is also active as a pianist.

Mr. Balasanyan studied composition and piano with Ashot Hazaryan at a music school in Yerevan from 1991–98, as well as composition with Ashot Hazaryan and piano with Avetik Pivazyan at the Romanos Melikian College of Music in Yerevan from 1998–2000. He studied composition with Ashot Zohrabyan at the Komitas State Conservatory in Yerevan from 2000–05, where he then had postgraduate studies in composition with Ashot Zohrabyan from 2005–08 and graduated with a diploma of excellence.

Among his honours are co-Second Prize in the competition for chamber music Benjamin Britten in Yerevan (2003, for Composition for Woodwind Quintet), the Narekatsi Young Composers Award in Yerevan (2006, for Postlude in memoriam...), Third Prize in the Sichuan Conservatory of Music Students Composition Competition in Chengdu (2010, for Flower Garden in the Dark), First Prize in a competition for piano free improvisation at the Narekatsi Art Institute in Yerevan (2016), a residency in Montréal (2018), and two prizes in the piano composition competition Fidelio Online in Madrid (both 2019, Second Prize, jazz category; Third Prize, contemporary atonal category). His music has been performed in Armenia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Russia, Switzerland, and the USA.

As a pianist, he has performed his own music, as well as works by composers from the past and present, throughout Armenia, including on the TV programme Pshalar and with the Contemporary Sound Orchestra in Yerevan since 2017.

He is also active in other positions. He sang in various choruses in Yerevan from 1991–2007. He has written numerous poems, many of which appear in the collection Arahetner – Paths (2001, Mitq). He participated with Ashot Zohrabyan as an Armenian delegate to the European Composers Congress in Vienna (2006) and as an Armenian delegate to the Youth Cultural Forum of the Commonwealth of Independent States in Tula, Russia (2018).

He taught choral writing as an assistant to Gevorg Armenyan at the Komitas State Conservatory in 2004–05 and later taught as an assistant to the chair of composition there from 2009–13.

In addition to the works listed below, he has composed film scores and made many recordings of his own piano improvisations.

COMPLETE LIST OF WORKS

ORCHESTRAL:

Metamorphoses of a Ritual, 2005

CHAMBER MUSIC:

Sonatine, flute, piano, 2001

Duo, flute, viola, 2002

String Trio, violin, viola, cello, 2002–03

Composition for Woodwind Quintet, flute, oboe, clarinet, French horn, bassoon, 2002–03

Postlude in memoriam... (in memory of Martin Hakobyan), violin, piano, 2003–04

Flower Garden in the Dark, flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano, 2006

Monologue–Fantasia, clarinet, 2006

Piano Trio, violin, cello, piano, 2007–08

The Pillow Tagh, clarinet, violin, viola, double bass, 2013

Tweet (in memory of Tatevik Baghdasaryan), flute, 2016

CHORAL:

The Preacher of Love (text by Vahan Teryan), mixed chorus, 2001

VOCAL:

First Vocal Cycle (text by the composer), soprano, piano, 2000

Second Vocal Cycle (texts by Vahagn Davtyan, Vahan Teryan, Hovhannes Tumanyan), soprano, piano, 2001

Songs on Komitas Poems (text by Komitas Vardapet), soprano, piano, 2015–16

PIANO:

Variations on a National Theme, 2000

Arabesque, 2012

Microludes for Piano, Book 1, 2015

Monument, piano, fixed media, 2015

Microludes for Piano, Book 2, 2016–18