Boris Parsadanian

Boris Khristoforovich Parsadanian (, ; May 14, 1925 – May 14, 1997) was a Soviet Armenian and Estonian composer, violinist, and arts administrator. Biography Parsadanian was born in Kislovodsk, Russian SFSR, in 1925. He began his musical studies in Ashgabat, Turkmen SSR, studying violin with Anton Gerbler. Later he moved to Moscow and enrolled at the Armenian House of Culture, where he studied with . His studies were interrupted by his military service in World War II, during which he was decorated. After the war Parsadanian enrolled in the Gnessin Institute where he studied composition and violin. He resumed studies with Litinsky and also began studying orchestration with Nikolai Timofeyev. He was well liked by his classmates for his playing and personality, but school staff initially disapproved of his behavior, particularly his constant playing of excerpts from Aram Khachaturian’s Violin Concerto. Parsadanian graduated in 1950. His first work to earn success was his Piano Trio, which was premiered at a student concert; the piano part was played by fellow student Yevgeny Svetlanov. This was followed by his tone poem David of Sassoun, which was based on the eponymous hero from the