Benaïm Quartet

Born in Armenia, Paruyr Shahazizian studied cello at the ‘Special School of Music” in Erevan.

At age of 13 he won the first prize at the national Erevan cello competition. At 15 he entered the Ecole Normale de Musique of Merzlyakoff, where his teachers were Natalia Chakhovskaia and Gayane Mndoyan.

At age 18 he won the first prize at the Prague International competition of String Quartets.

The following year he was accepted at the national conservatory of Erevan, where he won a gold medal in the following disciplines:

· Cello solo

· chamber music ensemble

· Cello teacher

Following that, he obtained the cello first prize with distinction for excellence and virtuosity.

He played at the National Opera of Armenia, with the Armenian National Chamber Music Orchestra and with the Opera of Madrid. Then he joined the Khatchaturian Quartet and became the soloist of the orchestra ‘Armenian Virtuosi’. As well, he was a teacher for the cello and for the quartet at the national conservatory of Erevan.

In 2006 he was invited to be a resident artist of the association ‘Pour Que l’Esprit Vive’ at the Abbey de la Pree, France. He also received a grant from the ‘Academie des Beaux-Arts’ of Paris.