viola

Vahagn ARISTAKESYAN, viola, was born in Yerevan, Armenia. He started playing the violin at the age of seven, studying in Yerevan until 1996. Aristakesyan played in the Youth Orchestra „Serenade“ from 1992 till 1995, winning First Prize for Chamber Music at the Valentino Bucchi Competition in 1995 in Rome. Further studies followed in 1996 with Tibor Varga in Sion, Switzerland, until 2000, where he studied the viola and played as soloist with the Orchestre de L’Académie Tibor Varga. Since 2000, he is Deputy Leader of the second violin section in the Basle Symphony Orchestra. In 2006, he was also elected Concertmaster of the Collegium Musicum Basel.

Vahagn ARISTAKESYAN