Setrak Setrakian

Setrak Setrakian () (b. 1938 in Beirut) is a Lebanese-Armenian composer and pianist, the former Director of Ganatchian College of Music in Lebanon, and a Professor of Piano, Harmony and Composition.
Professional career
*1950-1960 Studied piano, solfeggio, theory and harmony with Prof. Ernest Chouha in "Ernest Chouha" Music College in Aleppo.
*1961-1962 Studied piano, harmony with Prof. T. Succar, Mrs. Turkiyeh and Prof. Michel Tcheskinov at the National Conservatory of Lebanon.
*1962-1964 Studied in the National Conservatoire of Damascus harmony and composition with Prof. Sergey Schydril.
*1964-1965 Studied piano and composition with Prof. Gunther Kohl in Jerusalem.
*1966-1970 In Aleppo and Damascus gave lessons of piano and harmony.
*1971-1972 Invited to the "Komitas" Conservatory of Yerevan to specialize with the following professors:
# Edward Mirzoyan Composition
# Edvard Baghdasaryan Harmony
# Krikor Hakhinyan Polyphony
# Gevork Armenyan Orchestration
# Elenora Adamyan Piano
# Avet Derderyan Opera Composition
*1974-1978 Professor of piano at the Collège Mont la Salle, Ain Saadeh Beirut.
*1978-1980 Professor of piano at the Collège des Apôtres, Jounieh Beirut.
*1980-1985 Professor of piano in Beirut. (private lessons)
*1985-1988 Professor of piano and music at the Armenian Theological Seminary of the Catholicosate of Cilicia, Beirut.
*1986-1987 Professor of piano and harmony at P. Ganatchian Music College, Beirut.
*1987 -1999 Director and Professor of piano, harmony, composition, and music analysis, at P. Ganatchian Music College, Beirut.
*1994 Awarded the St. Mesrob Mashdotz Medal of Honor by Catholicos Karekin II.
==Alleged "Fake Recordings"==
In 2007 it was alleged that several of his recordings were determined to be the work of other pianists, most notably Martha Argerich. During the course of discussion, Setrak admitted that a file was uploaded by mistake, which included also works of other pianists. This upload, as per Setrak Setrakian, did not happen on purpose, but by accident. Before this incident, Setrak Setrakian was never accused of "fake recordings".
Through musical analysis, it has been determined that he had faked his recordings of:
Prokofiev - Toccata Op.11, actually recorded by Martha Argerich,
Prokofiev Sonata op.82, actually recorded by Martha Argerich,
Warsaw Concerto, actually a copy of a midi file by Eric Halstead,
and the Shostakovich Piano Trio, a recording on Erato by Yablonsky, Berezovsky, and Repin.
Setrak has since been removed from the Piano Society website. The founder of the Piano Socíety website, Robert Ståhlbrand, started a campaign against Setrak Setrakian, even claiming, "so far has found no trace of Setrak’s history in Lebanon" with no further proof of his alleged researches.

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu