Kurken Alemshah

Kurken M. Alemshah (; 22 May 1907 – 14 December 1947) was an Armenian composer and conductor. Biography Alemshah was born in Bardizag (now , near İzmit, Turkey). He began schooling in his hometown, but during the Armenian Genocide his parents sent him to Italy to continue his education at the Moorat-Raphael College in Venice. In 1923, when his teachers there became aware of his musical gifts, they enrolled him at the Milan Conservatory to study music. Following his graduation, Alemshah joined the faculty of the Paris branch of the Murat-Raphaelian school, where he organized the Giligia choir, performing not only in Paris, but also traveling to Venice, directing the choir in an all-Komitas program at St. Mark’s Square. Alemshah presented Tchouhadjian’s popular comic opera Leblebidji Hor-Hor Agha (The Chickpea Vendor), and Haygagan harsanik (The Armenian Wedding), a composition put together by combining Alemshah’s own melodies with popular songs. In 1937, Haygagan harsanik received second prize in an international competition in which twenty nations participated. Concurrently, Alemshah conducted the Alakyaz Choir on a number of occasions, initially to mark the establishment of the So