Ayvazyan was born in
Baku to a musical family. Many famous musicians including
Fyodor Shalyapin and
Sergei Rachmaninoff visited the family apartment on Merkurievskaya Street. Ayvazyan graduated from the
Tbilisi State Conservatory in 1923 and studied at the studio of
Alexander Spendiarian. He then attended the
Moscow State Conservatory, completing his post-graduate research in 1935. In 1933 Ayvazyan won the First Prize of All-Soviet musical competition. In 1938 he founded the Armenian State Estrada (Jazz) Orchestra in
Yerevan, one of the most popular in the
USSR and the only one that survived during the
stalinist repressions of the 1940s. Among his well-known songs are "Jan Yerevan", "Karine", "Get Arax" and "Im Karavan", a melody which became the unofficial anthem of the
Karabakh movement in
Armenia in 1988. He is also the author of the Armenian operetta "The Eastern Dentist," (featuring the popular 'Taparnikos's Song') and soundtracks ("Inchu e aghmkum getn?", "Mor sirtn" Armenian films, "The Snow Queen" Soviet cartoon animation). In 1939 Ayvazyan was awarded by the
Renowned Master of Armenian SSR Arts title. He headed the Armenian State Estrada (Jazz) Orchestra until 1956, from 1943 to 1945 he was also the artistic head of Yerevan Musical Comedy Theater. Ayvazyan was the first professor of
cello class at the
Yerevan State Conservatory. ==Discography==