Was Founded in Moscow in November 1924 by four talented Armenian students of Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory: Avet Gabrielyan - 1st violin, Levon Ogandjanyan - 2nd violin, Michael Terian - viola, Sergey Aslamazian - cello, the oldest performing quartet in the world. Made first public performance in February 1925. The oldest in the world and most famous Armenian music group carries the name of Komitas (Soghomon Soghomonian, 1869-1935)[[[Komitas]], a hiermonk whose genius brought a renaissance to Armenian music at the turn of the XX-th century. During its uninterrupted creative life, celebrating the 80th Anniversary in 2004, the quartet became well known throughout the world, took part in numerous international festivals, gave concerts in more than 80 countries demonstrating the highest standards of performance. Performed with S. Richter, N. Dorliak, E. Gilels, D. Shostakovich, M. Rostropovich, V. Merjanov, K.Igumnov, Walter Zeufert, Mario Brunello and other prominent musicians. Aram Khachaturian described the quartet as the jewel of the musical culture of Armenia. Many Armenian and foreign composers dedicate their works to the quartet. The quartet made a lot of collection recordings in the USSR and released numerous albums in Russia, United Kingdom, France and USA. The latest CD was re-issued in USA 2003. New studio album to be released at VEM label, is due beginning of June 2007 and will consist works by Armenian composers. The quartet was the USSR State Prize and Armenian SSR State Prize winner. The present members of the quartet are the third generation of players. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.