Boris Allakhverdyan, Associate Principal
B.M. Tchaikovsky Moscow Conservatory
Artist Diploma, Oberlin Conservatory of Music

Member of the Orchestra Since 2009

Born in Baku, Azerbaijan of Armenian descent, Boris Allakhverdyan started taking clarinet lessons from his father at the age of nine, shortly after his family moved to Russia. He graduated from the Tchaikovsky Moscow Conservatory with a Bachelor of Music Degree with honors in 2006. Allakhverdyan graduated from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music with an Artist Diploma Degree in 2008. Currently, he is pursuing his Master of Music Degree at the Cleveland Institute of Music, studying with Franklin Cohen. His previous teachers include Richard Hawkins, Rafael Bagdasarian and Valery Allakhverdyan. Allakhverdyan's ensemble the Prima Trio (www.primatrio.com) won the Grand Prize and the Gold Medal at the prestigious 2007 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. They are under the professional management of Lisa Sapinkopf Artists and they are performing concerts throughout the United States and Europe. The Prima Trio was featured on WCLV Radio in the “Around Noon” show with Dee Perry, as well as on the classical station WKCU. A first-prize winner of the Hellam Competition, the Tuesday Musical Competition and the Oberlin Concerto Competition, Allakhverdyan appeared as a soloist with the Springfield Symphony Orchestra, the Kremlin Chamber Orchestra and the Oberlin Chamber Orchestra. He has also performed with The Cleveland Orchestra on several occasions and participated in the Lucerne Festival Academy (under the direction of Pierre Boulez), the Mecklenburg-Vorpommen Festival in Germany, the Emilia Romagna Music Festival in Italy and the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival (Yale Summer School of Music). An active chamber musician, Allakhverdyan collaborates frequently with such distinguished ensembles as the St. Petersburg and La Catrina Quartets. From 2007 to 2009 he was the second clarinetist of the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra (Youngstown, Ohio). In 2008, he was appointed Principal clarinet of the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra in Boulder, Colorado, under the direction of Michael Christie. Allakhverdyan has performed as a soloist and with orchestras in Russia, Germany, Denmark, Venezuela, Italy, Switzerland and the United States of America.