Raffi Besalyan

UWSP - Music Department

rbesalya@uwsp.edu

(715) 346-3238

NFAC 320

Website

Assistant Professor of Piano

Education:

D.M.A., M.M., B.M. Piano Performance - Yerevan (Armenia) State Komitas Conservatory
M.M. Piano Performance - Rowan University
Professional Studies - Manhattan School of Music

Courses Taught:

Applied Piano
Class Piano

Biography:

After his solo recital in famed Izumi Hall in Japan, Raffi Besalyan was hailed by the Chopin magazine as “a true heir of the mainstream of Russian Pianism, like Horowitz.”

Armenian-born pianist, Raffi Besalyan has been a top prizewinner in national and international piano competitions, including the MTNA National Piano Competition, the Josef Hofmann International Competition, and the New York Frinna Awerbuch International Competition. As a winner of the Artists International Competition he was presented in his New York debut in Carnegie Hall in 2003 receiving highest acclaim from the audience and the press. New York Concert Review magazine described his performance as “Technically brilliant... Besalyan played with a great deal of temperament, speed and power... audacious spirit and poetic substance, deeply felt tenderness... Mr. Besalyan was subsequently invited to perform at Merkin Concert Hall on the Artists International “Outstanding Alumni-Winners ” series.

The flourishing career of Mr. Besalyan takes him to many important music venues worldwide. His performances have been heard throughout North and South America, Europe, Russia and Asia. He made solo appearances with the Osaka Symphony Orchestra (Japan), Orchestra Sinfonica Del Festival Di Chioggia in Venice (Italy), Yerevan Symphony Orchestra (Armenia), Belgorod, Symphony (Russia), Kharkov Symphony (Ukraine), New Jersey Festival Orchestra, S. Orange Symphony and Moscow Chamber Orchestra. Critics have praised Mr. Besalyan’s performances for its virility, passion and extraordinary technical command, especially in the Romantic and 20^th century repertoire. After a highly successful tour of Japan in 2001, he was invited back each year for concerts and master classes by Tokyo IMC, MAS management, and Yamaha/Japan. Articles on Mr. Besalyan appeared in the Chopin magazine, Asahi, Sankei, Kobe, Nikkei and Yomiuri newspapers. Among some of the recent highlights are a performance of Rachmaninoff’s 3^rd Concerto with the Osaka Symphony and a solo recital in Izumi Hall for Vivace concert series in Japan; recitals for “Keyboard Karma” series in Vancouver, Canada, “Yamaha Pianos” presented by Yamaha Corporation of America in New York City, also, appearances with the Jasper Quartet for BFCM in New York and, with Metropolitan Opera tenor Jon Garrison for NATS. In October of 2008, Mr. Besalyan performed Liszt’s 1^st Concerto with Tulare Symphony in California, and Stravinsky’s Concerto with the Wind Instruments at the University of Wisconsin- Stevens Point.

In 2006 Mr. Besalyan recorded a CD of works by Bach/Busoni for Koch International Classics.

Among Mr. Besalyan’s teachers are legendary American pianist Byron Janis, Sara Davis Buechner and Sergey Barseghyan. Former piano faculty of Rowan University in NJ, Dr. Besalyan also served on the faculties of Festival Musica in Laguna in Venice, Italy, and the International Summer Music Festival at Rowan. Raffi Besalyan is a Yamaha Artist.