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Hailed as "a cellist of uncommon attainments" by the Boston Globe, Suren Bagratuni was winner of the Silver Medal at the 1986 Tchaikovsky Competition while still a student at the Moscow Conservatory. He has gone on to a distinguished international career as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. In addition to performing throughout the former Soviet Union, he has toured world wide earning enthusiastic praise in both traditional and contemporary repertoire.
As soloist Mr. Bagratuni has performed with all the major orchestras in the former Soviet Union, including the Moscow Philharmonic under the direction of Valery Gergiev, and has also appeared with the Boston Pops, L'Orchestre Jeune Philharmonie in Paris, the Armenian Philharmonic, the Weimar Staatskapelle, the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, the Thuringian Philharmonic of Suhl, the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra, the Philharmonic Orchestras of Rostock and Erfurt, the Philharmonic Orchestra of Halle in Berlin, and the symphony orchestras of Chile, Guatemala, and the Dominican Republic.
He was the guest soloist for the U.S. tour of the National Chamber Orchestra of Armenia, opening the tour with a performance in Alice Tully Hall. A recent tour of South Africa included concerto appearances with the Cape town Philharmonic Orchestra Kwazulu-Natal Philharmonic in Durban and the Johannesburg Symphony Orchestra.
Recital and chamber music appearances have included guest invitations with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Newport Music Festival, Festival of the Hamptons, the "Russian Winter" Festival in Moscow, the El Paso Pro Musica Festival, the Niagara International Music Festival in Canada, the Alpenglow Festival in Colorado, the Masters de Pontlevoy and Divonne Festivals in France, the Nevada Chamber Music Festival, the St. Gallen Festival in Switzerland, the International Music Festival Pernambuco, Washington's Phillips Collection, Detroit's Pro Musica series, the "Premiere Performances" series in St. Louis and international festivals in Italy, France, Switzerland, Mexico, and Taiwan. At Weill recital Hall in New York he performed a suite for cello and piano by Ned Rorem, with the composer as pianist. He returned to the Weill for recital appearances with pianist Sergei Babayan. Their performance was later filmed at Steinway Hall in New York for NHK satellite television in Japan, and was aired there on "The Classical Hour" series. Other solo appearances have included recitals in Seoul, Taipei, Paris, Geneva, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Leipzig, Dresden, Berlin and a highly praised Munich recital debut at the Gasteig; on tour in South Africa in Johannesburg, Cape town, Port Elizabeth and Grahamstown; at the Krannert Center in Illinois, Worcester's Mechanics Hall, and Jordan Hall in Boston.
Suren Bagratuni won critical acclaim for his first CD release on the Ongaku label, featuring works for solo cello. Fanfare called his Ongaku recording of the sonatas by Prokofiev and Shostakovich with pianist Adrian Oetiker "impressively bold accounts". His last recording with Oetiker was released on the BGR (Blue Griffin Recordings) label and includes sonatas by Debussy and Rachmaninoff, along with Stravinsky's "Suite Italienne." His latest BGR release is of the Bach Cello Suites. Bagratuni also appears on a recording of Trios by Beethoven, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, and Rachmaninoff with the Moscow Conservatory Trio on the CMH label. Bagratuni has recorded for Melodiya, Marco Polo, and has been featured on CBC Radio Canada, the Bayerischer Rundfunk in Germany, WNYC in New York, NPR, and WGBH Radio in Boston.
In addition to his solo activities, Bagratuni is a member of the Nobilis Trio with pianist Stephen Prutsman and violinist Ruggero Allifranchini. Of this ensemble, L'impartial of Switzerland said, "they have a powerful impetus which they express through their individual mastery." In residence at Michigan State University, the Trio has twice toured Italy, France, Switzerland and South Africa, and made annual appearances in Brazil. Nobilis has recorded two television shows for NHK satellite TV in Japan. This summer Bagratuni will debut at Music in the Vineyards with the Trio and as soloist.
Bagratuni is Professor of Cello at Michigan State University where he serves as Artistic Director of the annual Cello Plus Festival, called "one of the premiere classical happenings." Popular with local Michigan audiences, Bagratuni has appeared as soloist with the orchestras in Saginaw, Adrian and Lansing and in multiple recital appearances in venues across the state. He has presented master classes throughout Europe, the Far East, South Africa, Armenia, Canada and at many schools in the U.S. including the Peabody Conservatory and the Cleveland Institute of Music.
Born in Yerevan, Armenia, Bagratuni began his musical education there at the age of seven. He began performing at age ten, and by age fourteen appeared as a concerto soloist. He continued his studies at the Moscow Conservatory where he was tutored by professor Natalia Shakhovskaya and took lessons with legendary Daniel Shafran. In 1981, he won first prize in the Vittorio Gui Competition in Italy. In the United States Mr. Bagratuni was awarded the Artist Diploma of the New England Conservatory of Music under the direction of professor Laurence Lesser.
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