1928 – entered the secondary school after Gorky and at the same time was accepted into the group of gifted children at the Yerevan State Conservatory after Komitas (YSCK). At the age of 12, he received his 1st prize at the competition for young musicians, where he performed the 4th Sonata by L. van Beethoven and Rondo Capricciozzo by F. Mendelssohn.

1935 – entered the YSCK, the departments of piano and composition (profs: S. Barkhudaryan and V. Talyan)

1938 – moved to Moscow and immediately entered the last year of the Music College after Gnessins, graduating from it in piano (prof. E.F. Gnesina) and composition (V. Shebalin) departments. After graduating from college, he entered the Moscow Conservatory after P. I. Tchaikovsky (special piano class, prof: B. Berlin)

1941 – At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War he was mobilized for defensive work near Smolensk

At the end of 1941 – evacuated to Saratov

Since 1942 – studied at the YSCK in the piano (prof. K. Igumnov) and composition (prof. V. Talyan) departments, completing the full course of the YSCK without passing the state exams, moved to Moscow, was reinstated at the Moscow Conservatory for the penultimate year of the piano department

1946 – together with a group of young composers was sent to Moscow for improvement

1946-1948 – improved at the House of Culture of the Armenian SSR in Moscow

1947 – graduated from the composition department at the YSCK as an external student (prof. V. Talyan)

1948 – graduated from the Moscow Conservatory as an external student (prof: K. Igumnov)

1943 – member of the Composers Union of the USSR

1950-1956 – taught piano at YSCK

1956 – associate professor

Since 1956 – lived and worked in Moscow. In the same year he joined the CPSU (Communist Party of the Soviet Union)

For piano.

1938 – Prelude

1943 – Vagharshapat dance

1944 – Impromptu

1946 – Polyphonic sonata (revised in 1956)

1951 – Capriccio

1963 – 6 pictures

1965 – Poem

1969 – Meditation

1970 – Melody and Humoresque

1978 – Elegy

For 2 pianos.

1940 – Dance

1950 – Armenian Rhapsody

1960 – Festive (includes percussive instruments, co-composed with Al. Arutiunian)

Chamber works.

1938 – String quartet No. 1

1947 – String quartet No. 2

1952 – Piano trio

1958 – Sonata for violin and piano

1961 – Air and Dance for cello and piano

1976 – String quartet No. 3

Concertos.

1944 – Piano concerto

1948 – Violin concerto

1950 – “Heroic ballade” for piano and orchestra

1962 – Cello concerto

Pieces for stage orchestra.

Nocturne (Concert piece for piano and orchestra)

Dreams (Concert piece for piano and orchestra)

Film scores.

1955 – «Looking for the addressee»

1956 – «Path of thunder»

1957 – «Personally known»

1958 – «The Song of First Love»

1958 – «A Groom from the Other World»

1975 – «Bride from the North»

1975 – «My heart is in the Highlands»

1976 – «Baghdasar’s divorce»

1977 – «Chef contest»

1980 – «The flight starts from the Earth»

1982 – «The mechanics of happiness»

Pop songs (over 200).

“Nocturne”

“Bring me back the music”

“Beauty queen”

“Wedding”

“Best city in the world”

“Grateful to you”

“Ferris wheel”

“Heart on snow”

“The blue taiga”

“Dum spiro, spero”

“Aria-vocalise” e.t.c.

Among the performers of his academic music: M. Rostropovich, E. Gilels, D. Oistrakh, L. Vlasenko, S. Navasardyan, J. Ter-Merkeryan, D. Khanjyan

1935 – First two prizes for two songs dedicated to the 15th anniversary of Soviet Armenia

1937 – 1st prize for the best performance of Alexander Glazunov’s Piano Variations at Yerevan Conservatoire

1939 – 1st prize for the best performance of works by Soviet composers

1945 – Medal “for defence of the Caucasus”

1945 – Medal “for valiant labour”

1947 – 2nd prize for three piano pieces (or the Piano Concerto) at the 1st World Festival of Youth and Students in Prague

1951 – Stalin Prize, third degree, for the “Heroic Ballade” for piano and orchestra

1953 – 2nd prize for the song “Fly Aloft the Friendship Banner” at the 2nd World Festival of Youth and Students in Bucharest

1956 – Order of the Red Banner of Labour[3]

1956 – Meritorious Artist of the Armenian SSR

1962 – People’s Artist of the Armenian SSR

1967 – Armenian SSR State prize for “6 pictures” for piano solo

1971 – People’s Artist of the USSR

1973 – Best composer’s award at the 2nd Tokyo Music Festival for the song “Ferris wheel”

1973 – Honorable citizen of two cities in Texas

1981 – Order of Lenin

1983 (posthumously) – Armenian SSR State prize for the OST for the film “Mechanics of happiness”