Asbarez: Pianist Sofya Melikyan in Concert at Fresno State

Pianist Sofya Melikyan

FRESNO—Award-winning pianist Sofya Melikyan will perform a recital as part of the “Young Armenian Talent” series of the Philip Lorenz Memorial Keyboard Concert Series at Fresno State. The performance will take place at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, September 27 in the Concert Hall on the Fresno State campus. Melikyan will be performing works by Chopin, Rachmaninov, Komitas, and Geghuni Chitchyan.

The concert is co-sponsored by the Armenian Studies Program of Fresno State and the Thomas A. Kooyumjian Family Foundation.

Melikyan has recently performed in recitals at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the American Liszt Society in New York, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Guangzhou Opera House in China, Bulgaria Concert Hall in Sofia, Santiago de Compostela Auditorium in Spain, “Chopin+” Festival in Luxembourg, as well as debuts with the North Shore Symphony Orchestra in Chicago and Vancouver Symphony in the U.S.

Born in Yerevan, Armenia, Sofya Melikyan began her musical formation at the Tchaikovsky Special School of Yerevan with Anahit Shajbazyan. She completed her further training at the Royal Conservatory of Madrid with Joaquin Soriano (where she graduated with Honors), Ecole Normale de Musique Alfred Cortot in Paris with Ramzi Yassa (where she, again, graduated with Honors), and the Manhattan School of Music in New York with Solomon Mikowsky.

Hailed for her “magnificent singing line and exquisite artistic sensibility,” this Armenian-born pianist is recognized as an artist with a unique voice combining “high-wire virtuosity” with “deep musical intuition and the ability to connect with the audience” (Mundoclasico).

General tickets for the Concert are available for $25 per person, $18 for seniors,, and $5 for students. Ticket reservations for the concert can be made online, or by calling 559.278.2337.

Free parking will be available in Lot P1 (Shaw and Maple entrance to campus). For more information please contact the Armenian Studies Program at 559.278.2669 or visit the website.