Hakhnazaryan was born in 1988 in Armenia, to a family of musicians: his father is a violinist and his mother a pianist. At age 12, he began studies at the Moscow Conservatory and, working with Laurence Lesser, he received the Artist Diploma from the New England Conservatory of Music in 2011.  He plays a 1698 Tecchler cello, on loan from Valentine Saarmaa, granddaughter of the renowned luthier Jacques Francais.

Hakhnazaryan’s powerful and poetic playing has earned him First Prize and Gold Medal at the 2011 International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. He made his first concerto appearance at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s on the Young Concert Artists Gala, as well as performances with the London Symphony and the Mariinsky Orchestra under Valery Gergiev; a five-concert tour across Europe with the Moscow Philharmonic; and with other international orchestras in Milan, Jerusalem, and Tokyo.

Hakhnazaryan also appears in recitals with US orchestras and is regularly invited to perform in Europ at the Verbier, Beethoven, and Tivoli festivals. As a chamber musician, he has performed with the Boston Chamber Music Society and at Ravinia’s Steans Institute; in the Caramoor Festival’s “Rising Stars” series; and at the Young Concert Artists Festival in Tokyo.

 As First-Prize winner in the 2008 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, Hakhnazaryan made his New York debut in the Young Concert Artists Series at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall and in Washington, at the Kennedy Center, both to critical acclaim.

Scholarships from the Rostropovich Russian Performing Arts Fund brought him concerts in Russia, Great Britain, Greece, Turkey, and Canada. His prizes include First Prize in the 2006 Aram Khachaturian International Competition in Armenia and First Place in the 2006 Johansen International Competition for Young String Players.

NOREEN POLERA, piano

Noreen Cassidy-Polera ranks among the most highly-regarded and diverse chamber artists performing today and maintains a career that has taken her to every major American music center and to Europe, Russia, and Asia. Winner of the Accompanying Prize at the Eighth International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, Polera regularly collaborates with laureates of the Queen Elisabeth, Tchaikovsky, and Naumburg international competitions.

Polera has collaborated with leading soloists David Shifrin, Matt Haimovitz, Carter Brey, Antonio Menesis, Aurora-Natalie Ginastera, Yo-Yo Ma, and Leonard Rose. She is renowned and in-demand for her mastery of the complete standard cello-piano repertory as is her attention and dedication to the works of living composers. In recent seasons, she performed Elliott Carter’s Sonata for Cello and Piano on tour in Paris, New York, and Philadelphia along with new works to critical acclaim. Her CD recording Sound Vessels with cellist Scott Kluksdahl features the recording premiere of Richard Wernick’s Duo and works by Robert Helps and Augusta Read Thomas as well as Elliott Carter. Polera holds the Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from The Juilliard School.