Ara Malikian
Ara Malikian was born in 1968 into an Armenian family. He started on the violin at a very young age by the hand of his father. His talent was recognized early on despite the difficult circumstances that the Lebanese civil war forced him to live through, forcing him even to study for long periods in bomb shelters.
He gave his first important concert when he was 12 years old and at 14 the conductor Hans Herbert-Jöris listened to him and obtained for him a scholarship from the German Government to study at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hannover. At the age of 15, he was the youngest student admitted to this prestigious higher center for musical studies. Later he expanded his studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, in addition to receiving lessons from some of the most prestigious teachers in the world such as Franco Gulli, Ruggiero Ricci, Ivry Gitlis, Herman Krebbers or members of the Alban Berg Quartet.
He has won numerous world-class competitions, including the first prizes obtained in the international competitions Felix Mendelssohn (Berlin, 1987) and Pablo Sarasate (Pamplona, 1995), in addition to the prizes received in competitions such as Niccolo Paganini (Genoa), Zino Francescatti (Marseille), Rodolfo Lipizer (Gorizia), Juventudes Musicales (Belgrade), Rameau (Le Mans), International Artist Guild (New York), and at the International Music Competition of Japan. In 1993 he received the Award for dedication and artistic fulfillment from the German Ministry of Culture.
He has played in the best concert halls in the world in more than forty countries on five continents: New York (Carnegie Hall), Paris (Salle Pleyel), Vienna (Musikverein), Toronto (Ford Center), Calahorra (Ideal Theater), Madrid (National Auditorium and Royal Theater) Zurcí (Tonhalle), London (Barbican Center), Cádiz (Gran Teatro Falla), Puertollano (Pedro Almodóvar Auditorium), Tokyo, Istanbul, Berlin, Athens, Venice, Los Angeles, Taipei, Hong Kong , Kuala Lumpur, Cuba, Bogotá, Munich, Barcelona, Bilbao, Mérida (Roman Theater of Mérida), Burriana (Payá Theater) and Ecuador (Sucre Theater) among others. It has also participated in the festivals of Aspen, Colmar, Prades, Schleswig-Holstein, Braunschweig, San Sebastián, Segovia, Bergen, Freden, Metlach, Prague and Buñol.
As a solo violin he has been invited by groups of stature of the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, Zurcí Chamber Orchestra, Genoa Opera Orchestra, Madrid Symphony Orchestra (OSM), Portugal Symphony, Tubingen Chamber Orchestra, Virtuosos de Moscow, Belgrade Philharmonic, Toulouse Chamber Orchestra, Armenian Philharmonic and orchestras of the Community of Madrid among others, under the baton of such important conductors as Mariss Janssons, Peter Maag, Jesús López Cobos, Vladimir Spivakov, Miguel Ángel Gómez Martínez , Luis Antonio García Navarro, Vassili Sinaisky, Edmond de Stoutz, Gudni Emilson, Juan José Mena or Jo Ann Falleta.
