Matthew Cameron performs his stunning piano transcription of the Adagio from Spartacus

Aram Khachaturian (Armenian: Արամ Խաչատրյան, Aram Xačatryan; Russian: Аpaм Ильич Xaчaтypян, Aram Il'ič Hačaturjan) (June 6, 1903–May 1, 1978) was a Soviet-Armenian composer whose works were often influenced by Armenian folk music.

Aram Khachaturian was born in Tbilisi, Georgia, Imperial Russia to a poor Armenian family. In his youth, he was fascinated by the music he heard around him, but at first he did not study music or learn to read it. In 1921, he travelled to Moscow to join his brother, unable to speak a word of Russian. Although he had almost no musical education, Khachaturian showed such great talent that he was admitted to the Gnessin Institute where he studied cello under Mikhail Gnessin and entered a composition class (1925).

In 1929, he transferred to the Moscow Conservatory where he studied under Nikolai Myaskovsky. In the 1930s, he married the composer Nina Makarova, a fellow student from Myaskovsky’s class. In 1951, he became professor at the Gnessin State Musical and Pedagogical Institute (Moscow) and the Moscow Conservatory. He also held important posts at the Composers’ Union, which would later severely denounce some of his works as being “formalist” music, along with those of Sergei Prokofiev and Dmitri Shostakovich. These three composers became the so called “titans” of Soviet music, enjoying worldwide reputation as some of the leading composers of the 20th century.


(from wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aram_Khachaturian)