Şahan Arzruni

Şahan Arzruni // ^ⓘ (Armenian: Շահան Արծրունի; 8 June 1943 – 21 October 2026) was an Armenian musician and producer who was based in New York.

Arzruni (also transliterated as Artsruni), whose family name belongs to an ancient Armenian nobility, was born in Istanbul, Turkey. His father was Stepan Jirayr Arzruni, and mother Maryam Kalpak. Composer Sirvart Kalpakyan Karamanuk was his maternal aunt who encouraged Arzruni to play the piano at the age of four; he appeared publicly at the age of five. He received his general education at Esayan and Getronagan Armenian Lyceums, and graduated from the Istanbul Municipal Conservatory (now Istanbul University State Conservatory), where he studied piano with Ferdi Statzer and harmony with Raşit Abed.

He moved to New York City in 1964 to study further at the Juilliard School of Music on a scholarship from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. There his principal teachers were Sascha Gorodnitzki in piano, Felix Galimir in chamber music, Joseph Bloch in piano literature, and Hall Overton in composition. Arzruni graduated from Juilliard, earning his Bachelor of Science degree in 1967 and a Master of Science degree in 1968. Arzruni also pursued doctoral studies at New York University.

Motivated by ethnic awareness in the United States, Arzruni continuously investigated the musical roots of his Armenian heritage. He researched traditional Armenian music; recorded a three-disc anthology of Armenian piano music, as well as co-produced an eight-disc set of instrumental and vocal Armenian music. He also delivered papers and organized symposia for such institutions as Harvard University, Columbia University and University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. Şahan Arzruni was the author of books and a contributor of articles for academic journals; he also wrote for various editions of The New Grove Dictionary and the Dictionary of the Middle Ages.

A Steinway artist, he was invited to perform on an 1869 Steinway piano at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for the inaugural of the centennial celebrations of the Museum's collection of historic instruments. In 2001, Mr. Arzruni delivered a lecture on Armenian liturgical chants at the invitation of the U.S. Library of Congress, in Washington, D.C.

Arzruni performed with Victor Borge, playing the role of straight man in Borge's concerts starting with the late 1960s, and appeared with Borge at the 1980 Royal Variety Show Command Performance where the pair performed Borge's classic comedic arrangement for duet piano of Liszt's Second Hungarian Rhapsody.

He appeared in television and radio broadcasts, including The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, The Mike Douglas Show and a number of PBS specials and has recorded for European radio networks, including the BBC. Arzruni gave command performances at the White House, as well as the British, Danish, Swedish, and Icelandic courts. In 2008, he was awarded "Honorary Professorship" from Yerevan Komitas State Conservatory in Armenia. In 2015, Şahan Arzruni was awarded the Presidential Movses Khorenatsi medal, the Republic of Armenia's highest cultural award.

In 2017, 2019, and again in 2022 and 2024, Arzruni visited various provinces of Armenia, as well as the Republic of Artsakh, coaching young musicians and performing in recitals. While on the road, he stopped over in ancient, remote monasteries, exploring and photographing the sites. This documentation has served as the basis of a series of articles in Paros monthly, published in Istanbul.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Arzruni curated a series of mini-concerts online, "Together for Armenia," to help Armenia financially.

Arzruni recorded for New World Records, Composers Recordings, Musical Heritage Society, Hearts of Space, Philips, Varèse Sarabande, Good Music, Positively Armenian, Kalan Müzik, and AGBU.

Arzruni died in Manhattan, New York City, on 21 October 2026, at the age of 83.

• Armenian General Benevolent Union Recording Grant, 2020
• Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation Recording Grant, 2019
• Knights of Vartan Award, 2018
• Movses Khorenatsi medal, 2015
• Bedros and Leda Şirinoğlu Recording Grant, 2013
• Dikran and Nadya Gülmezgil Recording Grant, 2010
• Honorary Professorship, Yerevan Komitas State Conservatory, 2008
• Harutyun Amira Bezdjian medal, Surp Pırgiç Armenian Hospital, 2008
• Knight of Armenian Art, 2005
• Boyan Award, 2004
• Composers Fund: The New York Community Trust, 2001
• Asian Cultural Council Residency Program Grant, 1999
• Louise M. Simone Travel Grant, 1998, 1997, 1995, 1994
• Order of St. Sahak and St. Mesrop, 1996
• Dolores Zohrab Liebmann Fund Publication Grant, 1996
• Steinway Artist, 1994
• Renaissance Medal, 1993
• Alex Manoogian Travel Grant, 1990, 1986, 1981, 1979.
• Juilliard Scholarship, 1968, 1967, 1966, 1965, 1964.
• Armenian General Benevolent Union Outright Grant, 1966, 1965.
• Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation Scholarship, 1965, 1964

• By Women: Piano Works by Armenian Women Composers (2024, AGBU)
• Alan Hovhaness: Selected Piano Compositions (2019, Kalan)
• Hommage: Piano Works by Early Armenian Composers (2014, Kalan)
• Komitas: Complete Works for Piano (2011, Kalan)
• Edvard Mirzoyan: Poem, Album For My Granddaughter (2004, Charents Museum of Literature and Arts, Yerevan, Armenia)
• Childhood Memories (2001, New World Records)
• Midnight Chopin (1995, Good Music)
• Alan Hovhaness: Visionary Landscapes (1991, Hearts of Space)
• Louise Talma: Three Bagatelles, Kaleidoscopic Variations (1987, CRI)
• An Anthology of Armenian Piano Music / 3 LPs (1979, Musical Heritage Society)
• Jerome Moross: Sonata for Piano Duet and Strings (1979, Varèse Sarabande Records)
• Joseph Haydn: Complete Sonatas for piano with violin (1977, Musical Heritage Society)
• Toccatas (1974, Musical Heritage Society)
• Béla Bartók: For Children (1974, Musical Heritage Society)
• Dmitri Kabalevsky: Children's Pieces (1973, Musical Heritage Society)
• Aram Khachaturian: Children's Album I & II (1972, Musical Heritage Society)

• Armenian Composers in Asia Minor (2008, Kalan)
• Sirvart Kalpakyan Karamanuk: Memories of Love / 2 CDs (2005, Charents Museum of Literature and Arts)
• Sirvart Kalpakyan Karamanuk: Children's Songs (2003, Charents Museum of Literature and Arts)
• Sirvart Kalpakyan Karamanuk: Choral Music (2001, Albany Records)
• Makar Yekmalian: Divine Liturgy (2002, Diocese of Armenian Church of America [Eastern])
• Nikol Galanderian: Children's Songs (2001, Fund for Armenian Relief)
• Koharik Gazarossian: A Memorial Album (1997, private)
• A Survey of Armenian Music / 8 LPs – Co-producer (1987, Positively Armenian)
• Komitas: A Centenary Album / 2 LPs – Artistic Director (1970, Komitas Centennial Committee)

• Քրիստափոր Կարա-Մուրզայի կեանքը կը վերածուի լաւ պատմուած զրոյցի [The life of Kristapor Kara-Murza evolves into an effective story]. Istanbul: Jamanak, 2014-06-14, p 3 (Armenian).
• Dubal, David (1993). Remembering Horowitz. New York, NY: Schirmer Books. pp. 66–68. ISBN 0028706765.