Levon Eskenian

Armenian Ethnomusicologist and Musician

Levon Eskenian is an Armenian composer and pianist who was born in Lebanon in 1978. In 1996 he moved to Armenia where he currently lives. In 2005 he graduated from Yerevan Komitas State Conservatory with a Master’s degree in piano (class of professor Robert Shugarov). In 2007 he obtained his postgraduate degree from the class of Professor Willy Sargsyan. He has also studied composition, organ and improvisation classes at the Conservatory and harpsichord in Austria and Italy with the English organist and harpsichordist Christopher Stembridge. Levon Eskenian is one of the most active figures in Armenia’s musical life.Being the artistic director of various ensembles,he has performed both as a soloist and chamber musician with a program ranging from early baroque to contemporary music in Europe, Middle East and in Armenia.
His interests in folk music and G.I. Gurdjieff’s work have led him to study the music of the Middle East and the Caucasian region. He is the founder and artistic director of the Gurdjieff Folk Instruments Ensemble, through which he aimes to present his ethnographically authentic arrangements of Gurdjieff’s music. In 2011,the German record label ECM released the Gurdjieff Ensemble’s recording “Music of Georges I. Gurdjieff” to international acclaim and prestigious awards, including: Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) Classic FM CD of theWeek (2011), Editor’s choice as top of the world for the Songlines Magazine’s November/December issue (UK) (2011), Q2 Classic Music Radio album of the week for January 7 (2012), and Best Folk Music Album 2011 at Armenian National Music Awards, Yerevan, Armenia (2012). Since the ECM release, the Gurdjieff Ensemble has presented concerts throughout Europe and Asia including performances at many prestigious festivals such as the Wege Durch Das Land in Germany; the imago Dei in Austria; the Stansern Musiktage in Switzerland; the Fiestival in Belgium and many others. Between 2005 -2012 Eskenian organised more than 600 concerts, lectures, master classes and classical music festivals in Armenia.. He is a founder member of the Naregatsi Chamber Music Society with its chamber orchestra and small ensembles, which were created to promote rarely performed repertoire ranging from early to contemporary music.