Koryun Asatryan

Koryun Asatryan, born in Armenia in 1985, started his saxophone lessons at the college of music in Yerevan under Prof. Alexander Manukyan in 1993 after a brief interlude on the piano. From October 2000 he studied in Dortmund under Prof. Daniel Gauthier with whom he continued his study from October 2003 onwards at the conservatory in Cologne and finished the studies in 2009 with Konzertexamen. He also took master classes with Jean-Marie Londeix and Arno Bornkamp.

Since 1999 Koryun Asatryan has been winning various competitions in Moscow, Yerevan, Kiev, Hamburg, Oldenburg, Berlin and Bayreuth. It is of a particular note his enormous success in May 2004 at the “12th Eurovision Competition for Young Musicians”, Lucerne, where he won 2nd prize representing Germany. At the beginning of October 2006 he received the 1st prize and the prize for the best performance of a contemporary composition at the first international “Aeolus wind instrumentalist competition“ in Düsseldorf. On May 2008 he won the “Hülsta-Woodwind Competition” in Münster and on March 2012 the famous “German Music Competition” in Bonn.

Tours throughout the USA, Canada, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Syria, Lebanon, Cyprus, Russia, Korea and numerous concerts in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Slovenia, Italy, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Japan, Armenia, etc. with the MDR Symphony Orchestra Leipzig, WDR Rundfunk Orchestra Cologne, SWR-Rundfunkorchester Stuttgart, Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra, Munich Chamber Orchestra, Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, Festival Strings Lucerne, Württemberg Chamber Orchestra Heilbronn were all a great success. He has collaborated with conductors such as Michael Sanderling, Christoph Poppen, Ruben Gazarian, Christian Arming. The success of his career has been borne out by his appearance at festivals such as the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, the Mecklenburg Vorpommern Festival, Musical Olympus“ (St. Petersburg), Colmar-Music Festival (France), Rheingau Music Festival, Lucerne Festival, Musikfest Bremen etc.

Koryun Asatryan has played in famous concert halls such as Gewandhaus Leipzig, KKL Lucerne, Dortmund Concert Hall, Düsseldorf Tonhalle, Gasteig und Herkulessaal Munich, Sala Verdi Milano, Meistersingerhalle Nürnberg, the Cologne Philharmonie, the Liederhalle Stuttgart.

As a result of his outstanding skills, he got a special prize from the “Deutschen Stiftung Musikleben“ (German Foundation for Musical Life), scholarships from the “Konrad Adenauer Foundation“, “Vladimir Spivakov Foundation“, “Werner Richard - Dr. Carl Dörken Foundation“ and the Music-Prize 2008 of the Association of German Concert Managements.

His appearance on 20.01.2008 with the MDR Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Michael Sanderling in the Gewandhaus Leipzig was broadcasted live by MDR. The fact that the cultural broadcaster “3sat“ has taken notice of Koryun Asatryan and is going to broadcast a TV program about him on 3rd May 2008 set to last three quarters of an hour is definitely another highlight of his artistic career.

2005-2013 Koryun was a member of the “Alliage Quintet“, which won the “Echo-prize 2005” for the CD “Una Voce Poco Fa”. The last three CDs with this Ensemble were recorded for the Sony Classical. His debut CD with the pianist Jang Eun Bae “Saxophone Caprices“ appeared on the Hänssler Classic label in August 2005 and was sponsored by the “LUTZ – E. ADOLF – Foundation for the Highly Gifted“. The last CD called “Fortezza” was recorded in autumn 2008 for “Classic-Clips” with the accordionist Enrique Ugarte.

Koryun Asatryan is teaching at the Music Academy of Munich.

The artist's homepage:

https://www.koryun-asatryan.com/