In this presentation, Kerovpyan seeks to advance investigation of the rich corpus of Armenian hymnody by proposing a new approach to elucidating the interrelation between the oral and written media by which it was transmitted in parallel from its inception in Late Antiquity until the 17th century.
Aram Kerovpyan was born in 1953 in Istanbul, Turkey. As a youth, he apprenticed under a church cantor. He learned to play the kanun and learned the Middle Eastern modal system with master Saaddeddin Öktenay (1930-1989). After gaining a degree in electrical engineering, he moved to Paris in 1977 and thereafter dedicated himself entirely to music. He co-founded the Ensemble Kotchnak in 1981. In 1986, he became the assistant to master-singer Aramaneak Arabian (1898-1990, born in Eskişehir, Turkey) in the Armenian Cathedral of Paris, Saint John the Baptist. In 1990, Kerovpyan succeeded Arabian as master-singer for the Armenian Cathedral of Paris. Kerovpyan is founder and director of the Center for Armenian Modal Chant Studies of Paris and the Ensemble Akn (1990 to present). He holds a Ph.D. in musicology (2003, École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris) and publishes, lectures, and performs, and directs workshops on Armenian modal chant with his wife Virginia Pattie Kerovpyan.
Part of the Nazir Ali Jairazbhoy Colloquium Series, sponsored by The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music Departments of Ethnomusicology and Music