It all starts in the capital city of Lebanon; Beirut. That’s where Arie was born, in a densely populated Armenian town called Bourj Hammoud; that’s also where he bought his first guitar and had his first ever guitar lesson in the local Parsegh Ganatchian Music School at the age of six. He went on to study there with Megerdich Mikayelian until 2019, graduating with Very High Distinction as the first ever guitarist to complete the 10-year programme in nearly two decades. During his teenage years, he performed extensively both as a solo artist and a chamber musician across Lebanon, which included a wide variety of classical repertoire, as well as an exploration of Armenian as well as Eastern folk music.

Arie then went on to pursue his higher eduction in Armenia, and was even enrolled at the Yerevan State Conservatory for a short period of time, having lessons with Hakob Jaghatspanyan for a little shy of a year. There, he had a wider access to the music of Komitas, who is considered the father of Armenian folk music. Hence, he took a deeper interest in the world of Armenian folklore and the vast artistic wealth it had to offer.

With a strong desire to immerse himself into the classical guitar universe, Arie wanted to study abroad. With the pandemic at its peak and the utter collapse of the Lebanese economy, this didn’t seem like a feasible decision. After long months of intense emails in search of support to fund his studies, Arie got the honorary Houston Family scholarship from the Royal College of Music (RCM) in London, two weeks before the start of term in September 2020.

Arie is now at this exact stage of his life story. He’s currently in his fourth and final year of undergraduate studies at the RCM where he studies with professors Gary Ryan and Christopher Stell. During the past two years, Arie has worked with the stars of the classical guitar world; among them are Sergio Assad, Antigoni Goni, Steve Goss, Laura Snowden, Dusan Bogdanovic, Mark Eden, Maarten Vandenbemden, Carlos Bonell, Sean Shibe, Xuefei Yang, and more.

Having partaken in several workshops, festivals, and competitions, Arie was awarded the Grand Prize in classical guitar at the “Renaissance” International Festival held in Gyumri, Armenia in 2018, and also took part in the the exclusive Volterra Project; a prestigious guitar workshop directed by Antigoni Goni in Volterra, Italy earlier this summer.

Recent notable performances includes the famous Super Strings Sunday at the Royal College of Music, as well as running a brand new festival alongside the Eden-Stell Duo called the Play2Festival in Armenia.