Biography
After studying violin and piano at the Tehran Conservatory of Music, Tjeknavorian studied composition at the Vienna Music Academy, where, in 1961, he graduated with honors. Shortly after his graduation, four of his piano compositions and his ballet Fantastique for three pianos, celeste and percussion were published by Doeblinger in Vienna. From 1961 to 1963 Tjeknavarian taught music theory at the Tehran Conservatory of Music. At the same time, he was appointed director of the National Music Archives in Tehran and was in charge of collecting and researching traditional Iranian folk music and national instruments.
In 1963, back in Austria, Professor Carl Orff granted him a scholarship, which allowed him to reside in Salzburg and to complete his opera Rostam and Sohrab. In 1965, Tjeknavarian began to study conducting at the University of Michigan. From 1966 to 1967 he was appointed composer in residence at the Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, and from 1966 to 1970 head of the instrumental and opera departments at the Moorhead University in Minnesota.
In 1970, the Iranian Cultural Minister offered Tjeknavarian a "position as composer in residence" including principal conductor to the Rudaki Opera House Orchestra in Tehran. He then conducted a number of major operas including his own works, such as his fairytale opera Pardis and Parisa and the dance drama Simorgh. In 1975 Tjeknavarian signed an "Exclusive Conducting" contract, with the RCA recording company and made many successful recordings with leading orchestras, such as the London Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
After the Iranian Revolution of 1979, he emigrated to the Soviet Union and to Austria, where he received Austrian citizenship under Chancellor Bruno Kreisky. He lived from 1990 to 2000 in Vienna. Currently he lives in Glendale, California.
Read more about this topic: Loris Tjeknavorian
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