Konstantin Orbelyan

Composer
pianist

TitlePeople's Artist of the USSR (1979)Musical careerGenres

Jazz
Chamber music
Estrada

Instrument(s)

Piano

Musical artist

Konstantin Aghaparonovich Orbelyan (Armenian: Կոնստանտին Օրբելյան; Russian: Константин Агапаронович Орбелян; July 29, 1928 – April 24, 2014) was an Armenian pianist, composer, head of the State Estrada Orchestra of Armenia.^[1]

He was awarded People's Artist of the USSR in 1979. Other positions held by him included the board member of the Union of Soviet Composers, Armenian Composer's Union secretary since 1983, and the Vice-President of All-Soviet Musical Society of the USSR. He was the uncle of his namesake Constantine Orbelian.^[2]

Discography

"Государственный эстрадный оркестр Армении п/у Константина Орбеляна" (1968)

As composer

"Birch Whispers" (Russian: Шум берёз), sung by Dmitri Hvorostovsky on the 2005 Delos Records compilation "Moscow Nights" (conducted by Constantine Orbelian).^[3]

References

^ "Armenian musician Konstantin Orbelyan dies at 85". Tert.am. 2014-04-24. Archived from the original on 2014-04-24. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
^ http://moscowchamberorchestra.com/co_biography.html Harry's younger brother, Konstantin, who was only 11 when the two boys were cast out on the street upon the arrest of their parents, was a talented pianist who managed to get a job playing the piano in the circus at that tender age. He eventually became a leading composer of popular songs and film scores in Russia.
^ Delos description of CD ; Naxos - lists work as Konstantin Orbelian's.