Анахид Ажемян: Америкалық скрипкашы және заманауи музыка шебері

American violinist (1924–2016)

Anahid Marguerite Ajemian (January 26, 1924 – June 13, 2016) was an American violinist of Armenian descent. Her career in contemporary music began from her desire to help young composers of her generation get their compositions performed. Additionally, she enjoyed performing the music of established contemporary composers. She included these composers with the traditional repertoire in her performances.

Ajemian was born in Manhattan on January 26, 1924, to Armenian immigrant parents. Her father was a physician and her mother a pianist. In the mid sixties, Ajemian and her fellow violinist Matthew Raimondi founded the Composers String Quartet at the suggestion of Gunther Schuller, which quickly earned an international reputation and toured in more than 26 countries, including the Soviet Union, India, the Middle East, Africa, Australia, Japan, Southeast Asia and China. The Composers String Quartet recorded extensively for the Musical Heritage Society, Nonesuch Records, Composers Recordings, Inc. and Columbia Records among many others. The Quartet's 1970 recording of Elliott Carter’s "First and Second Quartets" was honored by a Grammy nomination, received “Stereo Review’s “Best Chamber Music Recording of the Year” Award, and was acclaimed by High Fidelity as “Best Quartet of the Year” and one of the “Fifty Greatest Albums of the Decade.” Time magazine called it “an astonishingly brilliant and unique achievement.”

The Quartet was in residence at Columbia University in New York City and the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. For many years, they were the primary performers at the Mt Desert Festival of Chamber Music in Northeast Harbor, Maine. Ajemian was a long time member of the Columbia University music faculty and served as a judge for several music organizations, including the annual Naumburg Foundation Awards.

She was married to George Avakian, a record producer and founding officer of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. They had three children: Maro, Anahid and Gregory.