Hrachya Avanesyan & Maya Levy
Biographie Hrachya Avanesyan & Maya Levy
Hrachya Avanesyan
is considered as one of the most inspiring artists of his generation. In April 2006, when he was a teenager, he won the first prize at the Yehudi Menuhin Competition. In 2008 his talent was recognized once more in the musical world, when he won the prestigious Carl Nielsen Competition in Denmark.
During the last years Hrachya Avanesyan has made acclaimed debuts with orchestras such as Belgian National Orchestra with W. Weller in Brussels, London Chamber Orchestra with C. Warren-Green in London, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra with E. Inbal, National Orchestra of Lille with Joji Hattori, Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie with P. Goodwin, BBC National Orchestra of Wales and P. Watkins in Cardiff, Gulbenkian Orchestra with J. Carniero, Lisbon Metropolinan Orchestra, Odense Symphony with A. Vedernikov, South Jutland Symphony with Joshua Weilerstein, Liège Philharmonic with P. Davin, Belgrade Philharmonic with Daniel Raiskin, Orchestra Sinfonia Varsovia and Danish National Symphony Orchestra in Copenhagen with M. Soustrot.
Avanesyan has given concerts in prestigious venues like the Wigmore hall in London, Salle Gaveau and Théatre des Chapms Elysées in Paris, Santury hall in Tokyo, Moscow Kremlin's Grand Hall, Danish Radio Concert Hall in Copenhagen, National Auditorium in Madrid and the Palais des Beaux-Art in Brussels.
Highlights have been appearances in David's Hall, Cardiff with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, where he shared the stage with Joshua Bell and Maxim Vengerov, in Wigmore Hall where he debuted with the American pianist Ashley Wass and numerous recitals at the Montpellier Festival, Menton Festival and Strasbourg Music Festival in memory of Yehudi Menuhin.
Avanesyan has toured extensively in Scandinavia with pianist Marianna Shirinyan and appeared with the Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie, Arthur Rubinstein Philharmonic Orchestra, debut with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra and a recital tour in Japan. In 2012 he performed as soloist with Aarhus Symphony Orchestra and Copenhagen Philharmonic for the first time, and next season will see his return to South Jutland Symphony Orchestra.
His first cd with Vieuxtemps Violin Concerto no. 2 was released in summer 2010 in a box with all Vieuxtemps' concerti with the Liège Philharmonic Orchestra and Patrick Davin. Avanesyan's first solo cd with music by Dvorak was released in October 2011 with Sinfonia Varsovia and Augustin Dumay.
Born in Armenia in 1986, Hrachya Avanesyan moved to Belgium with his family at the age of 16 and is now settled there.
From 2003-2008 he has studied at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels in the class of Igor Oistrakh, son and the pupil of legendary David Oistrakh. From 2007 he is studying at the Queen Elisabeth College of music in Belgium with Augustin Dumay.
Hrachya Avanesyan plays on the violin of Antonio Stradivarius "Piatti" from 1717.
Maya Levy
Acclaimed for her “mysterious and fascinating charisma” (American Record Guide) and “captivating fantasy and freshness” (The Strad), Maya Levy is a winner of numerous prestigious awards, such as the 1st Prize of the ‘Médias Francophones Publics 2020’, a Silver Medal at the Manhattan International Music Competition, “Supernova” prize at the Klara Festival, title of a laureate at the Karol Szymanowski Competition in 2018 and the International Karol Lipinski Violin Competition 2019, where she got the ‘Beethoven Prize’ for the best interpretation of the sonata.
She has collaborated with many prominent conductors and orchestras, including The Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Szscecin Philharmonic Symphonic Orchestra Prima la Musica Orchestra, Royal Chamber Orchestra of Wallonia, the Torun Symphonic Orchestra, The Mitteldeutsche Kammerphilharmonie… Performing in venues such as the NOSPR Concert Hall in Po- land, the Szczecin in Philharmonic Symphonic Hall Teatro dell Aquila in Italy, Flagey Studio 4 in Brussels, Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, De Bijloke in Ghent, the Royal Theater of La Monnaie, The Philharmonie in Liège, Tchaikosvky Conservatory in Moscow and the Recanati Hall in Tel Aviv.
Maya is a regular guest at festivals such as the Les Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad (Switzerland), Piano Salon Christophori (Germany), Festival Mozartianna (Poland), L’été Mosan Festival, Klarafestival, Festival Musiq’3, where she appears with artist such as: Rolando Villazon, Julien Quentin, Boris Kusnezow, Alexander Mogelevsky, Marius Smolij, Rune Bergmann, Omar Massa, Vladislav Gryaznov, Alexander Gadjiev etc.
Next season begins with a tour of Shostakovitch and Dvorak violin concertos and brings her to the Berlin Philharmonic Hall, Berlin Konzerthaus, Tonhalle Saal in Zurich and various venues in Shanghai & Beijing among others, as a part of a fifteen recitals tour in China. (Scheduled debuts but postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic)
Maya is also an accomplished chamber musician who had a duo with pianist Matthieu Idmtal for 7 years, and has been part of the “Trio Carlo Van Neste” since 2014 (with Karin Lechner and Alexandre Debrus). From these two ensembles, two CDs were born. A critically acclaimed recording of complete Mendelssohn Piano Trios on “Pavane Records” label was released in 2014. In 2017 her second CD was released showcasing Edvard Grieg’s complete sonatas for violin and piano with pianist Matthieu Idmtal on “Pavane Records”. The CD has been praised and awarded by Classica Magazine, La Libre Belgique, Klara’s top 10 and called “A most intoxicating recording of a lesser- known Grieg” by The Strad Magazine.
Born in 1997 to French and Belgian parents, Maya Levy started playing the violin at the age of 4 under the guidance of Bernadette Jansen. Later on she has continued her studies with Igor Tkatchouk and since 2013, she has been working with the eminent Russian pedagogue Boris Kuschnir, in Vienna.
She has in the meantime attended the masterclasses of many renowned teachers such as Augustin Dumay, Pavel Vernikov, Itamar Golan, Renaud Capuçon, Miriam Fried, Andrei Baranov, Sergey Khachatryan and Leonidas Kavakos.
Maya Levy plays on a Guarneri violin (Cremona) of 1702.
