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РусскийKonstantin Orbelyan has passed away
On the morning of April 24th, People’s Artist of the USSR, great Armenian composer Konstantin Orbelyan passed away in Los Angeles, California. Konstantin Orbelyan would have turned 86 on July 29th. The news was posted on the website of the Union of Composers of Armenia.
Konstantin Orbelyan was born on July 29, 1928 in Armavir, Russia. He showed his musical talent at a young age and began to study at the special music school for talented children adjunct to Baku Conservatory when he was a child. His parents fell victim to Stalin’s atrocities, as a result of which he was dismissed from the school and moved to one of the small villages of Nagorno-Karabakh with his brothers.
In 1942, he was a pianist and accordion player for the jazz band of the aviation corp. After a while, he performed with the military orchestra and gave concerts in Yerevan and with the Armenian Pop Orchestra. Since 1945, he has readapted folk songs for the orchestra and has composed new melodies. One of his first works is Lullaby (“Ororotsayin”). In 1952, he got accepted to the R. Melikyan Music School in Yerevan, after which he continued his studies at Yerevan Komitas State Conservatory. In 1955, he composed the music for the film The Heart Sings (“Sirte Yergum E”). Since 1956, he has been the conductor and artistic director of the Armenian Pop Orchestra. In 1957, he became a member of the Union of Composers of the USSR.
In 1962, Orbelyan won the contest for young composers in the USSR. In 1969, he wrote the ballet Immortality. For 36 years, he was the head of the State Pop Orchestra of Armenia. Among his famous songs performed by different singers and the ones that he has received awards for are To Sing Means to Live (“Yergel Nshanakum E Aprel”), 100 Happy Hours (“100 Yerjanik Zhamer”), Thank You, Life (“Shnorhakalutyun Kyankin”), Love Doesn’t Age (“Sere Chi Tseranum”), You Are Not Whom I Need (“Du Ayn Ches, Ov Petq E Indz”), Remember (“Hishek”) and more. In 1974, he received the title of People’s artist of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic, followed by the title of People’s Artist of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1979. In 1992, he left for the United States and settled in San Francisco. In 2012, he was granted the Medal of Honor of the Republic of Armenia.
