"Since my childhood I like to play on Bechstein and first discovered the very old grand pianos with the noble and full sound, with depth and warmth. The modern instruments always delight me with their brilliant timbres and give me a valuable trust when playing."
Violetta Khachikyan
Pianist Violetta Khachikyan is a versatile musician, who passionately performs as a recitalist, as a chamber music collaborator and as a soloist with orchestras. Since her triumph at the Bremen International Piano Competition in 2009, where in addition to the first prize she was awarded three special prizes Violetta’s career has launched and her performances were heard on major concert venues in Europe, in addition to Japan and Brazil.
Praised as “a true artist” (Michel Moran) and complimented for her “beautiful tone and brilliant instrumental virtuosity” (Emanuel Krasovky), Violetta Khachikyan has performed with numerous symphony orchestras including the Saint-Petersburg State Symphony, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Bremer Philharmoniker, Volgograd Symphony Orchestra, Tambov Philharmonic and Krasnodar Symphonic Orchestra, and collaborated with conductors such as L.Segerstam, A.Titov, G.Loughran, V.Ziva, M.Kütson and F.Krumpöck. During the past two years she offered recitals at important music festivals such as Beethovenfest in Bonn, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Aarhus International Piano Festival and Brahms Festival in Lübeck and perfoms as chamber music partner in Konzerthaus Berlin and in Berliner Philharmonie.
In addition to the Bremen prize, Violetta is also a top prize winner of major international piano competitions, such as the 2007 Helsinki International Maj Lind Piano Competition, 2007 Scottish International Competition in Glasgow, 2009 George Enescu International Piano Competition in Bucharest, 2013 International Paderewski Piano Competition, among many others. In 2007 Violetta received an award from the Lions Club in Germany to record her first solo CD. Two years later, following the Bremen Competition, her next album was released by Radio Bremen. The CD includes Piano Concerto No. 2 by Rachmaninov with Bremen Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Mihkel Kütson, as well as several piano solo works. In 2018 came the Solo Album with the Romances and Humoresques by R.Schumann and T. Kirchner. Violetta’s performances where broadcasted by various radio stations, such as: Yle Fi (Finland), Radio 4 Amsterdam (The Netherlands), Radio Bremen, NDR Kultur (Hamburg, Germany), WDR (Köln, Germany) and Deutschlandradio Kultur.
Born to Armenian family in Krasnodar in the southern part of Russia, Violetta started her piano lessons under the guidance of her mother and after continued with Prof.Nelly Mezhlumova. At the age of twelve, the young pianist made her first solo debut in her native city in the main concert hall. Later Violetta graduated the Rimsky-Korsakov Saint- Petersburg State Conservatory where she studied with Tatiana Zagorovskaya, Natalia Arzumanova, Eleonora Nuridzhanyan and Georgy Erzhemsky. During her student years Violetta performed extensively, participated at numerous piano competitions, and was awarded the “Hope of Russia” Award, as one of the most promising young artists of her country.
Photos: © Christian Ruvolo, Uwe Arens