Konstantin Saradzhev
Konstantin Saradzhev was a Russian and Soviet conductor of Armenian origin, a music teacher and professor. He was born in Derbent on 8 October 1877 (27 September, Old Style). He graduated from the Moscow Conservatory in 1898, studying violin with Jan Hřímalý and counterpoint with Sergei Taneyev. In 1900 he went to Prague for further violin study with Otakar Ševčík, and that August joined the Moscow Private Opera as concertmaster of the first violins at the invitation of Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov.
From 1901 Saradzhev conducted concerts of the Circle of Lovers of Scenic Art. He studied in Leipzig with Arthur Nikisch from 1905 to 1907, developing the clear, expressive conducting technique that became the basis of his performing style. He was among the founders of the People's Conservatory, alongside Taneyev, Konstantin Igumnov and Alexander Goldenweiser, and taught violin and music theory there. From 1907 he chaired the Moscow Society for Mutual Aid to Orchestral Musicians.
Saradzhev began an independent career in symphonic and opera theatres in 1908. He was chief conductor of the public summer symphony concerts in Sokolniki in 1908, 1910 and 1911, where he introduced many Russian and foreign works from manuscripts. During four months of 1910, he gave 31 concerts, performing 50 large-scale and 75 smaller works, including first performances of compositions by Claude Debussy, Igor Stravinsky, Maurice Ravel, Sergei Prokofiev and Nikolai Myaskovsky. He also led Moscow's first complete cycle of Beethoven symphonies in Sokolniki. He served as chief conductor of the opera at the Sergei and Alexei People's House in 1911–1912 and of the Free Theatre in 1913–1914, and co-founded the Evenings of Contemporary Music in Moscow with Vyacheslav Derzhanovsky and Yevgenia Koposova.
After the October Revolution, Saradzhev taught at several institutions, formed professional and amateur ensembles and orchestras, and worked as an opera and symphonic conductor in Saratov and Rostov-on-Don. He headed GITIS in Moscow from 1922 to 1924 and was a professor at the Moscow Conservatory from 1922 until 1935. He organized and chaired the Association for Contemporary Music, and from 1924 to 1935 led the amateur symphony orchestra of teachers at the Higher Technical School. He gave concerts in Prague and Vienna.
In 1935 Saradzhev moved to Yerevan. He became rector of the Yerevan Conservatory in 1936, served as chief conductor of the Alexander Spendiaryan Armenian Opera and Ballet Theatre until 1939, and was artistic director and chief conductor of the Armenian Philharmonic. His pupils included Gegham Marutyan, Boris Khaikin, Leonid Ginzburg, Mark Paverman, Gevorg Budagyan, Pavel Berlinsky, Aram Katanyan and Alexander Kopylov. He was named People's Artist of the Armenian SSR in 1945 and received the title Hero of Labour in 1921, as well as the Order of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner of Labour and the Order of the Badge of Honour. He died in Yerevan on 22 July 1954.