Alexander Chaushian / cello

Alexander Chaushian started to play the cello at the age of seven, studying with his grandfather and Zare Sarkisian. From 1992 to 1995, he studied at the Yehudi Menuhin School with Melissa Phelps and from 1995 to 1999 at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London as a student of Oleg Kogan. From 1999 to 2001, Chaushian performed extensively as part of the Kempf Trio, holding a fellowship at the Royal Academy of Music in London. In 2003 he pursued advanced studies at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin with the late Boris Pergamenschikow and later David Geringas, graduating with distinction in 2005.

First Prize winner of the Premio Mozart Competition in Verona, Italy in 1990 and the International Music Competition in Holland in 1992, Alexander Chaushian also received the Guilhermina Suggia Gift in London - a grant awarded to outstanding string players - on three occasions. In 1997, he was awarded the Orchestra of New England Soloist Prize, as well as the First Summis Auspiciis Prize of Young Concert Artists in New York. In 1999, he was the recipient of the Anna Instone Memorial Award sponsored by Capital Radio. In 2001, he was the joint recipient of the Pierre Fournier Award, while in 2002, he won the Third Prize in the 12th International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. Chaushian was also awarded the Third Prize and the Special Prize given by the Munich Chamber Orchestra at the Internationaler Musikwettbewerb der ARD in Germany in September 2005.

Alexander Chaushian has appeared in prestigious venues throughout the world, and as a soloist, he has played with a number of renowned orchestras, including the Vienna Chamber Orchestra at Vienna’s Konzerthaus and at the Bruchnerhaus in Linz, the London Mozart Players and the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Royal National Orchestra of Belgium, Les Solistes Européens de Luxembourg in a gala concert conducted by Yehudi Menuhin, the Boston Pops Orchestra at Boston Symphony Hall, and the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra at Carnegie Hall.

Chaushian has given recitals at the Harrogate Festival in England, the Kuhmo International Festival in Finland, La Jolla Festival in the USA, the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, and in Montpellier as recipient of the Beracasa Foundation Prize of the Radio-France and in Montpellier Festival. Since 2002, he has been acting as the artistic director of the Orpheus & Bacchus Festival in Bordeaux in France and the International Pharos Chamber Music Festival in Cyprus. He has closely collaborated with a number of distinguished musicians, such as Levon Chilingirian, Dmitri Sitkovetsky, Ani and Ida Kavafian, David Geringas and Phillippe Cassard, as well as Yuri Bashmet and Gidon Kremer at the Kronberg Chamber Music Festival. His regular chamber music partners include Ashley Wass and Yevgeny Sudbin.

Alexander Chaushian has given highly praised recitals at the Wigmore Hall and the Queen Elizabeth Hall, and has appeared as a soloist in highly acclaimed concerts with the Philharmonia Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall, with The Academy of St Martin in the Fields and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the Barbican, as well as the Padova Chamber Orchestra at the Sala Verdi in Milan and the Suntory Hall, Japan.

In 2006, Alexander Chaushian recorded Dmitry Shostakovich’s Cello Sonata for Performance Channel Television, as well as Wim Zwaag’s Cello Concerto with the Núrnberger Symphoniker. His solo debut recording for the BIS label of Weinberg’s Sonatas, in which he is partnered with Yevgeny Sudbin, was released to much acclaim. It was recently followed by another highly acclaimed CD for BIS, which includes cello sonatas by Rachmaninov, Borodin and Shostakovich.