Sergei Babayan

The career of pianist Sergei Babayan flowered after he moved to the U.S. in 1989. Since then, he has been a major presence on the American concert and educational scenes without neglecting his roots in Europe and the former Soviet Union. Babayan was born in Gyumri, in Soviet-controlled Armenia, on January 1, 1961. His family was musical, and he began his studies at age six in Armenia, taking lessons there with Georgi Semerdjiev. At the Moscow Conservatory, his teachers were Mikhail Pletnev, Vera Gornostayeva, and Lev Naumov. Babayan took his first trip outside the Soviet Unio...